Consequences
by dmnq8
Summary: Even the most level-headed ninja sometimes lose their heads. Sequel to Scotcheroos. Same time period, same AU. ItaSaku, het. Giftfic for Nanakira. Disclaimer in my profile.
1. Chapter 1

A/N Set during the same time as Scotcheroos. This is for **Nanakira**. She said any pairing would be fine, so...here it is, my first ItaSaku. This starts off with the scene in Scotcheroos where Sakura went to give Itachi his check-up, and he decided to take things further. I'm not giving any other background info in this fic, so if you need to, please refresh your memory with Scotcheroos.

May I just say what an absolute relief it is to be writing something other than yaoi?

Beta: Blood Zephyr

* * *

**Consequences**

Chapter 1

_Help!_

Then, _Oh God._

Finally, _Damn, my dress!_

Beyond those few simple thoughts, which were quickly gone, Sakura did nothing but let Itachi lead.

She couldn't call up a specific reason just then for why she was letting this happen, either. A reason had been there, when he'd asked her if she did random things, by which he'd meant would she allow him to court her (was that even a term anymore? Court?), but right now she was sitting on TenTen's cake, and her dress had been ripped open, right down the front.

Itachi had swooped down and kissed her before she'd been prepared, and it lived up to every girlish fantasy she'd ever had about the act. It was forceful and possessive. It made her toes curl in her sandals and her heart pound deliciously in her chest. It was her first kiss. Kakashi had touched his mouth to various parts of her body through his mask, but this was her first lip on lip action (outside the peck she'd given to Sasuke's closed lips under a mistletoe once, which hardly mattered compared to this).

She found it to be an overwhelmingly intimate experience. It left her with the bewildering realization that kissing felt more sexual than sex itself. It was… _sensual. _It probably felt more personal because it was her _face_, her _mouth, _parts of her that were deeply sensitive, and thrummed with an unidentifiable psychological resonance when touched.

She'd caught Sasuke and Naruto kissing a few times this past year. Was this how it felt to them? Did the slick slide of another's tongue make them wet and achy in certain areas? Her breasts responded immediately to the suggestive way he used his tongue by swelling and growing tender. Her nipples (flush against Itachi's bare chest, _oh my Gawd!_) were nearly painful with arousal. The way she was yanked against a rather significant erection made her moan with need; the hard ridge of flesh put pressure directly on the place in her that was aching the worst.

Her dress and brassiere were removed and set aside. She realized her arms were clasped around his neck, that she was squeezing him ridiculously hard, and started to lower them. He stopped her. Repositioned her arms around his neck as he managed to step even closer to her and wrap his arms around her torso in turn. His head slanted, and the kiss was deeper. Harder. It made her entire body shiver incessantly through waves of heat.

His arms were hot where they held her. The way his chest, also very warm, pressed against her own soft skin inflamed her in more ways than one. She had to break the kiss, turn her head aside, and rest her cheek on his solid shoulder. She breathed through the rising tide of passion in her, tried to take a step back and regain some measure of her usual composure. Itachi took this time to press his lips to her shoulder, to rub the palms of his hands over the faint depressions her back muscles created. He kneaded her flesh lightly in a way she found endearing. His hand came up to thread through her hair, to pull her head back. He met her eyes with his own. His face drifted closer to hers, unhurried, until their mouths found each other and locked together again.

Her desire was like a drug. It made her allow her pants to be pulled off, her sandals to be unstrapped, and her panties to be slipped off of her hips. Very little existed for her outside the kiss and its command of her senses. She was intently focused on the mouth plundering hers; after all, she'd been naked with a man before. She'd never _kissed_ before.

Kissing felt like love, she decided. It was that intimate. A girl could really fall in love with her first kiss. If the kiss was anything like this, anyway.

He guided her to lay on her back. Her hips were dragged forward until they hung off the edge of the table, supported by his waist. The way cake gathered in the crack of her ass and between her legs from this action was not to be considered. It was noted distantly that the spongy mass was cool against the skin of her back. It felt soft and… indecent, somehow. This sensation was offset by the hard table beneath her. The way its smooth surface was in direct opposition to the cake left her overly aware of other textures: his pants-covered hips where they brushed her inner thighs; the rough skin of his hands as they grasped her calves; and the silky feel of her skin against his wherever they made contact. He bent over her, putting his face in the hollow of her neck and shoulder. His hair was still damp, and cold from the air conditioning where it fell across her throat. These thoughts didn't carry enough weight to detract from the way his mouth closed over the pulse in her neck and sucked leisurely. Almost questioningly.

There was a definite oral fixation on his part. He studied her nipples for long seconds before sucking them each until she sobbed. Only when he'd wrung similar reactions from her did he move on to other body parts. Her stomach. Her waist. Her hips, thighs, and pubic bone. She thought he might perform the final act of oral exploration then, but he instead stood up straight and only gazed at the juncture of her thighs. She wasn't too disappointed; Kakashi had never done that with her, either. She felt slightly self-conscious with his prolonged stare. After a moment, she hesitantly closed her thighs. He raised his eyes to her face, studying the expression he found there. What he did next surprised her.

Itachi thoughtfully scooped up handfuls of cake from where it was squished around her and dragged his hands over her skin.

"_Aaaahhnnn…"_ She arched, her palms pressed against the table at her sides. The icing was gritty against her flesh, and this subtle abrasion stimulated her unbearably. The contrast of her heightened temperature and the cool icing made her shudder, which was noted, she saw.

He looked her in the eyes as he gathered more of the yellow and white icing and smeared it across her lips with one callused finger. Back and forth. Slowly. His finger circled her lips once before dipping inside her mouth, where she sucked greedily. She saw his face tighten in pleasure and felt an answering pulse directly in her clit. She bit his fingers softly, and released them only reluctantly, after he'd tugged them free with a lingering suck from her.

More icing. He painted her with it, covered her breasts and shoulders and inner elbows with the stuff. He wiped it all across her face, before grabbing her in both of his mucky hands and holding her head still. He leaned in.

The tiny sucks and nips to her cheeks and chin as he began cleaning her face had her panting. His own face became dirty with icing. Sometimes he paused long enough for her to flick his skin with her tongue, to taste him in turn, and these privileges made her clutch at him insistently. Her mewls were ignored, though. He took his time, moving to her shoulders. Her inner arms were given such attention that she was forced to bite her lip. Kakashi had always focused on specific places, not these sexless parts of her body. She found that they were at times more responsive than her more obvious erogenous zones were, and let him continue without complaint.

Her breasts again. The nipples were left alone. It gave her an entirely new feeling to have the globes themselves lavished with tongue and lips, and sucked clean. Her limbs were loose, every nerve in her awakened to a point of terrible intensity; she only had strength to lay quiescent for him. Only when he had thoroughly satisfied himself with what she had to offer above the waist did he kneel and put her feet on his shoulders.

She had time to wonder briefly what it would feel like, before she felt his rough thumbs spread her lips wide. This embarrassed her, especially at feeling the way cake and icing still clung to her there. Her arousal mixed with this mess to leave her suddenly blushing and trying to close her legs, positive that the sight of such an unholy mixture must be grossing him out.

He held her legs open with his forearms. They dug painfully into the tender flesh of her inner thighs. Closing her legs was impossible. Her lip got snagged between her teeth at seeing his scrutiny. One hand came up to nervously pull at the ends of her hair.

She felt the point of his tongue give one long, drawn out lick to the very center of her, and all her resistance was gone.

Her mouth opened and froze that way; the tongue was bad enough, but withstood. The way his mouth covered her and proceeded to suck her sanity away was what had one of her fists now around a handful of his hair and the other hand gripping the edge of the table hard enough to break a chunk of it off in her grip. Her entire body went through undulations that were timed to the motions of his mouth; helpless not to move upward whenever he drew on her flesh.

Never. She'd never been known this intimately, never been touched like this. Not like this. She'd had no one to compare with, but she felt it safe to say that Kakashi had been an animal in bed. Very… uninhibited. Wild. He'd liked her screams, liked her grunts, and liked to throw her this way and that in various positions. And it had been nothing but sex_. _His mask had effectively kept a barrier between them so that, although she'd been sharing the most personal experience of her life with him, it had been hollow. She was able to realize now that Kakashi had been enthusiastic, yes, and superbly skilled, but impersonal. There was a wealth of difference between his hands, when they'd touched her here, and Itachi's mouth. If Kakashi had been wild, then Itachi was more intent. More absorbed in the act, in _her._

Aside from the physical sensations quickly sweeping through her, this level of intimacy finished what had been started with the kiss. Her heart opened and latched onto the source of her awakening with strong tendrils without her even realizing it.

He was meticulous about it. She was aware of this somewhere in the maelstrom of her thudding heart and wildly escalating desire. He gave tight suction to her nether lips for long minutes, before latching onto the sensitive, erect bud of flesh sitting atop them. She felt the thick glide of his middle and index fingers inside her, felt them move in counterpoint to his suction. The cool apartment was silent save for the wet sounds of his mouth, and the tortured way her breath hitched sporadically. She endured this until her head pounded and throbbed with her racing heartbeat, and then she burst apart and came in a jarring spasm that gripped his fingers in a concrete vise. It had her pushing against his shoulders with her feet to break the unbearable suction of his mouth. He fought her, holding on a few more seconds, until she finally screamed and pushed in earnest. She covered her streaming eyes with the heels of her hands, overcome.

Something in her had broken. Something that was the essence of her no-nonsense approach to life, the thing that labeled her as level-headed by everyone who knew her. It was broken and gone, snuffed out by the first person to reach past her logical common sense and touch the core of her personality. A core that was new to love, and thus had no immunities or protective walls in place against it. She cried at being breached, aware of the breach, and yet oblivious to her newly awakened feelings.

Her body was wracked with waves and shudders for several tortured moments while this small crisis had her, until she felt him lay a hand on her forearm. She was gasping.

"Should I stop?" he asked. He gently pulled one of her hands down, looking at her tear-streaked face with what for him was probably concern. His expression looked no different than usual.

She shook her head, still gasping. Even now her pelvis did tiny jerking motions, as her orgasm was loath to subside completely. Her nipples tingled frightfully, and the ache between her legs was fierce. "No. Don't… don't stop." Her crisis was now buried where conscious thought couldn't get at it. She was present once more.

His eyes gauged her face. Seeing her arousal, he decided that the tears weren't of disgust or regret, and cupped his fingers inside her again. He held her gaze as he did so, watching the way her face twitched and clenched as he probed carefully.

Wickedly, dastardly, knowledgeable hands. No, not knowledgeable. The very questing quality of his ministrations ensured that a thorough examination was made, an examination that bypassed the one sure place inside her to elicit pleasure, so that other nooks and pockets of delight were discovered… just as he'd done with the rest of her body. Her thighs and flanks tensed and contracted at the little bursts of pleasure his fingers caused, until…

"There," she wheezed.

He paused only fractionally at this, then rubbed firmly with the fingers inside her. He drove her, whipped her to a state of panting emergency, only to still his hand completely and leave her sweating on the very edge of release. Only when her trembling subsided did he start again. Slowly, building his strokes until the wet squishing sounds were nearly as exciting as the hand itself. His eyes prevented her from looking away, from denying what he was doing to her and what she was willingly asking for by keeping her legs spread wide. Again, he brought her to the brink, and again he left her wanting. She choked on her own breath, unwilling to voice her sizzling need while he remained silent, yet unable to be completely quiet either. She was slowly coming apart at the seams. Her hand closed around the one arm he had braced on the table near her ribcage and squeezed. She continued to squeeze, her chakra escaping her control and hurting him until he finally, finally let her come. Such was the force of her release that the table clattered on its legs. She stared up at his face the entire time, at the way his hair fell around his head.

Her brief foray into sex had been a year ago. She was understandably tight after so long, especially after coming more than once. He had to push and retreat several times to penetrate her constricted walls. Her wetness helped, allowed him to enter her. It stung, but once he was inside, the heat of him nearly had her coming again.

_Uchiha Itachi is making love to me, _she thought in dumb wonder. The name, a legend, somehow did not fit with the man covering her body with his. It didn't match the way he put her arms around his neck again, or the way he pushed her knees up until they were flat along her sides. It was a position that left her feeling spread and vulnerable, and gave her no leverage whatsoever. Only the way he pounded her hard, with a species of steady, unbroken, and unswerving concentration, fit with his name. Powerful man. Powerful lover.

There was no holding back on his part now. Her orgasms were fierce, uncontrollable monsters that ripped through her with a regularity that left her tearful with wild lust again. Maybe the tears weren't entirely from lust; there was nothing whatsoever impersonal about what was happening, not with the way his lips rested against her skin from time to time. She left red grooves on his back with her nails that did nothing to slow him down or gentle his thrusts. He was clearly hungry, and meant to be satisfied.

He pulled out once to turn her so that she was face down in the ruined cake. Her cheek pressed to a smashed strawberry on the table as he entered her from behind. This new position had her on her toes, the depth was so shattering. It took her longer to come, but the orgasms lasted nearly a full minute, sometimes longer, and she wailed openly as he kept thrusting throughout each one.

Periodically, some thinking part of her would surface and try to make sense of what was happening. This was invariably overwhelmed by all that she was feeling emotionally and physically. She finally just stopped trying to understand. She gave up, gave in, and just allowed him his way with her.

He emptied himself on the floor, pulling out at the last second. He rested his forehead between her shoulder blades for all of a few minutes. Then he entered her again.

* * *

Bright, noisy day. Kids running and laughing. Adults talking, shopping, socializing. Laughter everywhere. Life still made sense to people, if not to her anymore. The sky was an endless canopy of blue. Familiar. Sakura stumbled slowly between pedestrians with her head back, staring up and up into the bottomless, comforting blue. The sky reaffirmed that she was a tiny speck in the grand scheme of things, and so her problems must likewise be insignificant and not the earth-shattering catastrophe she'd been beginning to suspect they were.

Someone bumped into her. She was spun halfway around and nearly knocked her on her ass. Forced to look where she was going, she caught sight of herself in a passing store window.

Her hair was standing up in sections, stiffened with icing. One cheek had the remains of the strawberry stuck to it. There was cake and icing coating her ears and neck. She looked like a refugee from a battlefield.

She turned and continued making her way home.

Her legs were weak. Shaky. The mild friction caused by her thighs as she walked set off little miniature shockwaves, infinitesimal orgasms that threatened to buckle her knees at every other step. She held the halves of her sleeveless tunic together with strengthless hands. She avoided meeting anyone's eyes.

-oOo-

It wasn't until she entered her apartment and smelled burnt sugar that she even remembered she'd left her friends there. The clock mounted on the hallway wall chimed as she shuffled past it to the kitchen. She'd been in Itachi's apartment for four hours. And she'd left her bag there, she realized dully. Come to think of it, she couldn't actually remember leaving the apartment at all.

Sasuke and Naruto stood by the fridge, side by side. They had cautiously hopeful expressions. They seemed tense. What? Oh, right. They were supposed to make Scotcheroos. And there they were, on the table. God, she couldn't even look at Sasuke. She felt like she'd betrayed him somehow.

"Thanks," she offered. Her lips were numb.

That seemed to be good enough for them. They scampered away, and she was left alone. She sat down right there on the floor, her legs at last giving out.

A piece of cake fell from her ear to her shoulder.

* * *

The party that evening was surreal. She spoke to people, answered them, laughed and ate and danced, but inside she was still sitting on her kitchen floor. She could still feel his hands and mouth, and now the breach in her had been located and acknowledged. She was different.

"Where's the cake?" someone asked. The party had been in full swing for some time now.

"I brought it," Sasuke was heard saying. "It's over there. Itachi said Sakura had stopped by to give him his check up and he accidentally knocked it over. He gave me money for a new one. Sakura, you left your bag at my place. I brought it with me."

"Is your brother coming to the party?" the previous voice asked.

She'd ignored Sasuke's comment about her bag, keeping her back to him and whoever he was speaking to, but now she paused in the act of sipping her punch. She listened hard.

Sasuke laughed. "Yeah, he said he needed a nap first. He was conked out sleeping when I left him, like something dead. Wonder what he was up to today? He should be here soon, though. Naruto do you have that new CD…" Sasuke's voice trailed away.

She located TenTen, wished her a happy birthday, professed to be ill, and got the hell out of there.

* * *

She avoided her teammates and Itachi for the next week. She and the boys didn't necessarily see each other every day since making Chuunin, so she doubted they were aware of her absence. Itachi, however, sought her out at the hospital three days after the incident at his place. She pretended not to notice him standing at the nurse's station, where she was going over charts.

"You said you don't do random things," he greeted her bowed head.

"I don't." _Please let him go away!_

"That would imply you were comfortable with what happened."

"I-" What? She couldn't say that she was, when she was finding it impossible to meet his eyes, but she lacked the courage to admit anything else.

"You're avoiding me. Which tells me you regret what we did. You left without a word that day. Did I hurt you?"

By now a few medics were following the conversation. They were gathering at the nurse's station, pretending to go over their own charts; some of the charts they held to their eyes were upside down. "Can we not do this here?" she begged. She peeked at his face.

His expression brought flashbacks of how he'd stared at her during their encounter. One particular memory surfaced, staining her cheeks bright red: the knobby head of his shaft, and the way its particular friction had brought her to howling release several times. There had been no place on her body that his hands and mouth hadn't investigated thoroughly. He probably knew her body better than she herself did now. _What the hell is wrong with me, thinking these things?_

Looking at him now, she got the distinct impression he was disappointed. She looked at him more closely, trying to see past his practiced neutrality. Before she could do more than pick up on a vague sense of his confusion, he stepped back from the counter. "I misjudged you," he said. He turned without another word and left.

Ouch.

* * *

She went home, closed herself in her room, and stood with her back against her door. She stared at her bed. Gone was the white comforter with stars and rainbows that she'd had since her days at the academy. It had been replaced recently with a more mature rose-themed quilt.

After leaving the party that night, she'd come home and thrown herself on her bed in the fetal position. She'd bounced back up at encountering a stiff patch on the spread that scratched her cheek. A cursory inspection revealed a substance she was familiar with (especially given her earlier activities) in dismaying abundance all over her comforter. There was even a large splotch on the underside of her lacy pillow, still slightly wet from having been denied contact with the air. It was pungent with its freshness, preserved for her discovery.

She'd been grateful. This violation of her bed afforded her the necessary distraction she'd needed just then.

Full of a towering rage that had very little to do with the two frightened young men who screamed for mercy, and everything to do with the older brother who looked on silently from Sasuke's doorway, she had vented her disordered feelings in a most satisfactory way: Sasuke's room had been left a complete wreck, and the door to the Uchiha apartment had been in pieces. Sasuke and Naruto had been left stuffed into a closet, shreds of the pillow she'd brought with her still floating in the air. She'd retained enough fury to sweep past Itachi regally, without looking at him once. She left him staring after her without a word.

Now, though, she remained against her door.

_I'm being a melodramatic tight ass, _she thought with sad self-disgust. _What happened to me? I'm better than this. _She'd never run from life or difficult situations. If she could face Akatsuki, face death on a regular basis on both the giving and receiving ends, then she could face the fact that she'd had an utterly feminine moment and lost her heart without consultation of her mind. She'd been impulsive. She'd _consciously_ allowed him to touch her. Her previous assertion that she didn't do random things remained true, and with this confirmation of herself, she stopped being afraid.

It had just been so much more than she'd expected. And yet less. She'd expected to hear some form of declaration, since he'd initiated it. Feeling as she did, his lack of a response left her feeling caught out in the open and silly. Immature. She knew she was none of those things. Instead of being able to engage in an adult interlude with cool nonchalance, she'd gone and fallen for the first man to kiss her.

She took a moment to realize with further disparagement that she'd never once entertained thoughts about Itachi before he'd touched her. Sick now at the thought of how juvenile her encounter with him had shown her to be, she refused to cry. It seemed to her that if she'd never had feelings or thoughts about him before, then it was impossible that her feelings now could be real. This is what she stood there and told herself. She repeated it firmly in her mind. _I'm not in love with Uchiha Itachi. I'm infatuated, that's all. I have a lot of growing up to do._

But her chest tightened with the knowledge that this wasn't true. She'd been infatuated with Kakashi-sensei for years, she knew what infatuation felt like. This was nothing like that. Her belly fluttered with the awareness that her feelings were genuine, precipitous, and thus likely to be highly destructive. _I'm screwed, _she thought miserably. And she was confused. Love or lust? What _was _she feeling? It was so hard to tell when her mind was saying one thing and her heart and body another.

She hugged her throbbing midsection and slid to the floor.

* * *

At the end of a week, she reasoned that she had her brief drama queen moment well in hand. Regardless to what she was feeling, she was not some flighty person who ran from conflict. She scouted the village until she found him sitting in a dango shop. He deserved an explanation. She marched to the chair opposite him, courage and tattered pride in hand, and sat down.

He kept his eyes on his tea and dango.

"I got scared," she stated without preamble. He did nothing but delicately bite a dango from its skewer and chew. The motion of his lips reminded her that he liked sweets… especially when eaten off of her. Heat seemed to bloom low down in her belly and climb upward. She had to swallow and clasp her hands on the table in front of her before she could go on. "I've never behaved like that. And those things you did-"

His eyes lifted to hers for a moment.

"-I'd never done them before. It just… scared me."

"You didn't behave as if you were frightened when I was with you," he pointed out. Another dango slid into his mouth. He licked the tip of his skewer to catch a drop of sweet syrup.

No, she hadn't. She'd been out of her mind with ecstasy. "After," she clarified. "I felt..." Confused. She kept that to herself.

"Why did you allow it then?"

_Because I thought you'd tell me you liked me. I thought you had feelings for me._ Which did nothing but make her feel desperate and pathetic."I think you're attractive." That was half of the truth, at least. An acceptable excuse. Believable, given her youth. It grated to portray herself as shallow, but it was better than showing herself to be childish and incapable of a simple encounter of sex between two consenting adults.

The look he gave her at hearing her reasons hinted at disappointment again. She considered asking him about it, but he broke the eye contact and sipped his tea. "And now?" he asked once he'd set his cup on the table. "Are you over your fear?"

She looked at him for a long time, deciding then and there to just cut the crap. It wasn't who she was. She generally left the mind games to Ino. She had feelings for him, so what? Was she so weak that she couldn't admit them?

He finally looked at her again as he was lifting his tea once more. He held her stare over the rim of his tiny cup.

"Are there any feelings involved here?" she asked. She suddenly wanted to know if he felt anything before she went and stated her own feelings. Her hands tightened around each other on the table. Her stomach muscles clenched in self-defense. _Just a yes or a no. Yes or no, and then I'll know what to say, or if I should say anything at all…_

"Are there?" he challenged. Such direct dark eyes.

_So it was a no, then._

After a moment she nodded, biting her lip. Trying not to feel crushed, she got up and left. She listened hard for footsteps following her, opened her senses to the feel of his chakra, but she arrived at her apartment door without interference. Instead of unlocking it and going inside, she turned and walked until the moon was high in the sky, and her tears were completely spent.

_Forget him._

_

* * *

_

Days went by.

Her body performed the most heinous act of betrayal and counted them by twisting tighter with longing the more time went by. She would stutter through her days with her mind caught between images of dropping a tree on him, and devising strategies to somehow move into his apartment without his knowledge, preferably right into his room. The vivid memory of the things he'd done to her punctuated each stupid, pointless task she performed at work. She remained in such a state of arousal that the mere act of crossing her legs, or sitting down, or urinating was enough to have her coming halfway. Her panties were perpetually moist. At night she would put both hands between her legs, clamp down with her thighs, and indulge in the recollection of his mouth tugging on the flesh beneath her hands. She always climaxed with her head turned into her pillow, muffling her fraught shriek of his name. She would wait until she caught her breath, and then start again, kicking the hell out of her blankets and thrashing her head from side to side.

And still the tension did nothing but claw its way deeper into her body, day by agonizing day.

_Looks like forgetting him is out of the question, _she thought in dull resignation._ Hello, teenage obsession. Welcome to the previously ordered thought-processes of my mind. Feel free to pick over what's left of my sanity. If I can get you anything that would make your stay more welcome- my heart and soul, for instance- you need only to ask. _Whoever said eighteen was too old for suicidal fixations on older men knew absolutely nothing about love.

The code blue jolted her out of her musings. She saw Tsunade-sama and Shizune run past the nurse's station, where she was supposed to be getting their patient's file, and hurriedly ran after them.

-oOo-

She pulled the sheet over the face of the aged man. He'd fought a years-long battle with an illness he'd picked up in Water Country, where he'd been an undercover ANBU agent for decades. He'd been brought to the hospital last week, but Tsunade-sama had been unable to find a cure strong enough to combat the aggressive nature of his disease. He'd died in his sleep a few short moments ago, after his body systems had failed one by one.

The Fifth's golden brown eyes narrowed as she spent some time staring at the outline of his face beneath the sheet. Then she noticed Sakura and Shizune. "Prep him for autopsy, and have samples ready for intensive analysis."

Shizune wheeled the body away, while she was left to research similar illnesses in scrolls the Hokage dropped in her arms.

-oOo-

One floor up from the Quarantine, she rounded a corner in the empty hospital corridor and felt a hard hand come around her face to clamp over her mouth. Her scrolls either fell or were knocked from her arms before she was pressed against the wall face first. A moment, wherein she sensed him taking the time to scope for witnesses, and then she was bustled into an empty examining room. Her dress was yanked up, and her panties pulled aside. She was lifted and sat on Itachi's hard length before she could catch a breath, and it was a relief. The awful tension she'd lived with was sluiced away as the floodgates of her desire opened wide.

Just that one punch of his body into hers and she was tightening around him hard enough to make him grunt. He allowed her a single moment to wrap her legs around his waist more securely, and then he was moving her, careless of the fact that she was still coming. One climax after another rolled through her, beginning and ending in one long, ceaseless wave that had her seeing stars behind her lids.

She consciously surrendered to what she perceived to be irresponsibility on her part, and told herself that by doing so she was in fact being responsible. Why fight? The feelings were entrenched, wisely or not, regardless to her capacity to understand them. A large part of her still vacillated between the love/lust theory, but really, what could she do? She could suffer alone with the consequences of her ill-advised concession to his pursuit, or she could feed her obsession by indulging it.

A relief.

* * *

He didn't mind being seen in public with her, she found. She would have thought that all he wanted was sex, and so would stick to private assignations, but he surprised her. He sought her out at the hospital, or would be waiting for her outside the Hokage's office at midday to take her to lunch. He walked her home from work and training sometimes, or stayed in the library with her when she had to research late into the night. Oddly, the first week or so of these meetings were done in silence. He ate with her, walked with her, and sat with her all without speaking to her. If she weren't terrified of losing him, she'd have tried to say something. Anything. But not so much as 'Hi, how are you' was exchanged.

It wasn't uncomfortable. She sensed he was observing her. His presence didn't strike her as being needy either; it wasn't a case of him following her (or mutual obsession, she thought with regret). Sometimes he was with her, and sometimes not, that was all.

It helped that when he wasn't walking with her or eating with her, he was screwing her brains out. It happened in janitor closets at the hospital, in restrooms at the library, or up in trees, with them standing against the wide trunk.

Occasionally, she saw Sasuke and Naruto during this time. They came to her house one afternoon, and they all ended up playing video games, eager to take advantage of one of her rare days off. At one point, while the next level was loading on the screen, she'd looked left and right at where her former teammates sat on either side of her. It made her stomach hurt to think she was keeping something so important from them, especially when she looked at Sasuke. But then round four started and she pushed her guilt aside.

-oOo-

Gradually, Itachi opened up. It began with him asking what made her decide to study medicine one evening when he was walking her home. Her explanation had been long and involved. At the end, she realized they'd arrived at her apartment and had been standing outside her door while she talked for at least an hour. She asked him inside. Her mother and father had been flustered and pleased at the deep bow Itachi gave them, but left their daughter alone with twinkling eyes and approving nods. He'd stayed, and they'd talked of a few topics.

It had been awkward. The atmosphere of her apartment, with her parents obviously eavesdropping, put a damper on their budding comfort with each other, and he'd left.

She discovered a side of him that she cautiously labeled as playful. Once, when they'd been in a restaurant, he'd surprised her by asking her to sit next to him instead of opposite him on the other side of the table, as she usually did. She'd complied with a pretty blush of confusion. He was positioned so that his back was to the wall, with him facing the rest of the room. He draped his right arm behind her shoulders on their seat in an unprecedented public display of affection. His left hand dropped into her lap. The menu in her hands trembled the faintest bit. _He wouldn't, _she thought. A peek at his face showed him apparently focused on the menu in her hands, reading it with her. She realized that the fall of the tablecloth effectively covered her lap from prying eyes.

After a tense minute had gone by, she covered her mouth with the corner of her menu. "_What are you doing?" _she hissed.

His look was an attempt at innocence, she could tell. It was only slightly less stoic than his normal expression. "We're reading the menu to decide our order. Aren't we?" He delivered this with such seriousness, down to the tiny frown between his brows, that despite feeling one callused finger rasp along the cleft of her panties, she actually doubted he had a hand up her skirt.

His eyes seemed to dare her to contradict him. She picked up a faint air of amusement in his look and managed to crack a strained smile; that finger was burrowing its way inside her panties, between-

The waitress came by to ask if they were ready to order at that moment. She looked up to request a few more minutes, but Itachi switched the languid probing of his fingers to pinch the small, erect key to her release. He rolled it between thumb and forefinger, and she came with the waitress looking pleasantly at her red face, still waiting to hear her order. Her eyes glazed over, and all she could do was clench her teeth to keep in her deep moan. Her breathing stopped altogether. Every muscle in her body tightened to prevent her shudders from being visible. She lowered her eyes to her menu, then closed them at feeling Itachi's middle finger slide deeply inside her.

Itachi spoke as if she weren't right then coming in his hand. "We'll both start with the steamed chicken dumplings," he told the waitress.

* * *

He could never be called verbose, but he did speak at length on a number of things that interested him on occasion, and he asked pointed, specific questions of her often that required detailed answers. Still, Sakura noticed that their discussions were never personal. He never asked about her feelings, only her thoughts on things. And he never spoke of his own feelings. They continued to step around the topic, sharing everything but what mattered, until she was forced to accept that this was the extent of his ability to commit. It forced her to hide a lot of what she felt, among other things. As time wore on, she wished more and more that she knew the real Itachi.

There was one good thing that had come from their weeks of seeing each other. She was no longer conflicted about love and lust.

-oOo-

"You wished to see me, Tsunade-sama?"

Sakura watched her mentor exchange a meaningful glance with Shizune when she entered. A sense of foreboding settled on her shoulders. Shizune left, closing the door softly behind herself. Sakura kept her eyes on the blonde woman behind the curved desk, who was now watching her with a finger to her lips. Tsunade swiveling back and forth in her chair.

"Is there anything you want to tell me, Sakura?" The voice was neutral, noticeably so.

Sweat suddenly coated her brow, though the day was cool. "No, Shisou. Is- is something wrong?"

Tsunade continued to stare at her. "I was hoping you would tell me. I hope you know you can come to me with anything, even if you feel you can't go to anyone else?"

Sakura kept her composure with an effort. _Fuck. _"Of course, Shisou."

"So is there a problem?"

"No, Shisou." Her voice was firm.

Tsunade held her gaze without blinking for several long seconds. "Very well. I called you here for a mission. You are to choose two other team members and travel to Water Country. I believe we can discover the nature of that man's illness and perhaps an antidote. Be back in under a fortnight." She held the mission scroll up for Sakura to take.

Smoothing her hands down her pants, she walked forward and took it with a bow. "I'll leave immediately."

* * *

She didn't tell him she was going. Probably an unwise decision, but such an action felt in character with the rest of her recklessness of late. People who didn't share their feelings, if they had any, with the woman they had sex with didn't deserve to be informed when the same woman would be away on a mission. At any rate, the pang she felt was more for having to endure days without his touch, than for what he might think, she told herself. She ignored the private hope that he'd be angry and worried, and instead focused on packing.

Spare clothes, a compass, and a map of Water Country were stuffed into her satchel. A special leather case filled with medical tools went in, along with vials and tubes for any samples she might pick up. Done, she walked purposefully out her front door. She called farewells to whichever of her parents were home, too distracted to hear their replies; Tsunade-Sama's piercing gaze this afternoon seemed to float in front of her. Those perceptive eyes had done, and were continuing to do, an effective job of shocking her out of the sexual, stuporous, bubble of obsession she'd lived in for the past three months. She'd come home and sat for hours thinking before actually getting up to pack.

-oOo-

Sasuke and Naruto were waiting for her. They signed out at the village gate, and proceeded to walk the first leg of their journey. Hoping to make good time, and combat the cooler weather, they traveled hard that first day, and the next five days. They slowed when they were near the coast of Fire Country and the border to Water Country.

She was left alone at their campfire that night. Sasuke and Naruto didn't go far. She could pinpoint their location by their chakra, which seemed to grow erratic at a rate proportionate to the amount of rustling they did in the bushes. She poked the embers with a stick, her mind flitting between a wide variety of thoughts, yet unable to settle on any specific one for more than a few moments at a time.

Sasuke led the way back, emerging into the light surrounding their small camp with Naruto behind him. Their cheeks were flushed. Naruto was actually still grinning.

Quite without warning, she picked up one of the medium-sized rocks surrounding their fire and hurled it at them, followed by another.

"Ack!" Naruto yelled. He ducked, as did Sasuke, before whirling behind him to see what enemy had been at his back.

Sasuke knew the rocks had been meant for them and remained crouched as he stared at Sakura, who stood glaring at them and panting.

She burst into tears.

Naruto, recovered, cautiously came around the fire. "Sakura?"

"I hate you both," she said with a vicious swipe at her nose.

That was actually a relief to hear. Both boys had received this declaration from her innumerable times. It usually meant PMS or that she'd been saddled with extra work from the Hokage. In other words, the statement rarely had anything to do with them even if it was directed at them.

They watched her busily sitting back down and taking up her stick. They sat to either side of her, pressing against her to share body heat. They were less than a day from the ocean bordering the southeast corner of Fire Country. Tomorrow they would hire a boat to take them to one of the small islands surrounding Kirigakure. Right now, a stiff wind blew in off the coast and had their fire dancing wildly.

Naruto dragged his blanket free of his pack and passed one end to Sasuke. Together, they wrapped the large rectangle of wool around themselves so that their heat was trapped.

Sasuke put an arm around her waist. Sakura was suddenly nice and toasty. She relaxed slightly, and leaned her head on Naruto's shoulder. His body was giving off the most heat. She thought idly of how this was likely due to his Kyuubi-enhanced metabolism, while the three of them stared into the fire.

They didn't ask for an explanation. They just sat and waited for her to get to her issue in her own time, as they'd done a thousand other times through the years.

"I used to think I was smart," she whispered. "That I was practical and sensible. In fact, I know I still am, which makes the past three months even more hateful." Her tears were starting up again. She let them come, hanging on to Naruto's solid arm, while feeling Sasuke's tighten around her waist. They were listening hard, given the heads-up to an impending confession by her reference to three months of some mysterious act they'd known nothing about.

"I think I let him because he obviously wanted me. I thought he'd tell me he'd been carrying secret feelings for me or that he… that he'd loved me from afar. Stupid, childish fantasies about being swept off my feet by a strong shinobi. The kind every girl dreams about. The kind too strong to fall in battle and leave you a widow. And he was –is- all those things. The stuff of dreams and fantasies. And it was good. Better than good, it was amazing and incredible and hot. I thought, well if it's like that with him, then it must mean he loves me, right?

"I was stupid to think that. It was just like Kakashi all over again, with nothing but our bodies connecting. That's what I thought, anyway. I made it worse by running like a coward. Then I missed him. So much. And when he came back I just threw myself at him and told myself that I didn't care if he didn't care, I just wanted him to touch me like that again, to make me feel those things again."

She sniffed long and hard. Sasuke rubbed her arm, before resting his chin on her shoulder. "How does he make you feel?" he asked.

"Like I'm the only girl in the world."

Naruto stirred. "I love that song." He was rewarded with two pairs of eyes looking at him as if he'd grown a second head. He resumed staring into the fire in an effort to pretend he'd said nothing.

Sasuke shook his head at such thriving idiocy before dropping his eyes to Sakura's head. She was resting it on Naruto's shoulder again. He attempted to summarize the situation. "So… you have feelings for this guy, but suspect he's been using you for sex? If he makes you feel so good, then he obviously cares. What's the problem?"

"I'm in love with him," she admitted painfully.

"But?" Sasuke burrowed closer to her and Naruto both, as the wind picked up. He tugged the blanket over their heads.

"But I hardly know him." She turned her face into Naruto's arm completely to escape the biting wind. Their fire was nearly blown out. Heat baked off Naruto like an oven, and she sucked in the smell of him in a deep breath. "We talk about everything but ourselves, or else have wild jungle sex-"

Naruto giggled. She bit him through his sleeve. Hard. He nuzzled her cheek in apology, rubbing his whiskers against her face until she fought him off with a giggle of her own. She kissed his injured arm in forgiveness. Sasuke hissed at them to quit disturbing the blanket and letting the heat escape.

"I don't think he has any feelings for me whatsoever," she resumed when they'd settled down. "It's all about the sex for him."

"Okay, so you're screwing some creep," Sasuke said through clenched teeth. He was turning into an icicle. "You're right, that is stupid. The Sakura I know would never let herself be used by a guy, even if she did have feelings for him. But that's what you have us for. Naruto and I will step to him, if you want. Things could be worse, right?"

Sakura waited until Sasuke had finished his muttered string of curses at another gust of wind. He got cold so easily. "I don't need your Neanderthal chest-beating complex, or for you to handle my affairs. And it already is worse. I'm pregnant."

Sasuke and Naruto wasted precious cultivated body warmth by leaning sharply away from her to stare at her face. She took the blanket and wrapped it around herself exclusively. She gazed at the flickering fire as if she hadn't just shocked them beyond belief.

"Who is this fuckface?" Sasuke demanded.

She liked that the first thing out of his mouth wasn't an observation on her carelessness. She really should have told someone sooner, she realized. Her voice was a whisper, and the tears tried to come back; saying it out loud hurt. "Your brother. Itachi."

The fire finally went out. The wind fell away suddenly, as if it too was frozen in disbelief. Sakura imagined her friends standing in the pitch darkness with their eyes popping out of their sockets. It reminded her of cartoons, when some hapless character would find themselves in a dark room and all you could see was their eyes. Ludicrous, but it struck her as hilarious then, and she repressed an inappropriate urge to laugh, while simultaneously still trying not to cry. Really, there was nothing to laugh at. _Hormonal female? Check. Cliché unplanned pregnancy? Check. _She reigned in her thoughts, and her emotions, with an effort.

Naruto's voice broke the deafening silence. _"HUH?"_


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Those following this might want to refresh themselves with the previous chapter to recall Sakura's impression of Itachi. That's the only way this chap will really make sense. One more chap to go...

Beta: None.

* * *

Chapter 2

He told himself that what he was feeling wasn't panic.

She wasn't at the hospital. She wasn't making rounds of house calls in the village. She wasn't even home. He walked, not ran, to the Hokage building and waited to be granted an audience.

-oOo-

"Sakura left on a mission this morning," he was told by Tsunade. "I believe she took Naruto and your brother with her. Didn't Sasuke tell you?"

Seeing as his brother was eighteen and often spent his time however he wished, which included away from the apartment on occasion, the answer to that was no. Sasuke had not told him he was going anywhere, let alone on a mission.

A mission. As in, Sakura was no place that he could get to within the next half an hour or so. Relax. Still no need to panic. He never panicked, not for anything. That wasn't who he was. At least it hadn't been until he'd met Sakura. Focus. "I don't monitor Sasuke's time too closely," he said now.

Tsunade said nothing. She couldn't kick him out of her office, as she would have done to maybe Sasuke. He was a member of the branch on the council made up of clan heads. However, she could and did make him feel distinctly uncomfortable by staring at him. Her eyes held…disapproval?

"Is there something specific you need Sakura for?" she asked without warning.

He bowed. "We had plans for lunch. Thank you for your time, Hokage-sama." He left the office, and then the Hokage building.

* * *

A simple hand seal landed him outside his apartment door with a vanishing wisp of smoke. Once inside, he conducted a brief search. He found what he was looking for taped to the fridge. He took the note and read the few lines:

_Yo, Bro!_

_Sakura wants Naruto and me for a mission to Water Country. _

_Later, _

_Sasuke._

_P.S. Love you._

_P.P.S. I took your new hoody, the black one with the Uchiha fan on the front pocket. It's cold as a witch's tit out on the water. I promise not to let anything happen to it._

_P.P.P. S. Naruto says don't touch his instant ramen._

Folding the note and putting it absently in his pocket, Itachi mentally ran over his past few outings with Sakura. Had he said something to anger her? Why hadn't she told him she was leaving? _I could have gone with her. _If she'd chosen him, that was. He'd have been happy to spend more time with her. A mission would have been a valid excuse to spend all day and night in her presence; instead of the measly excuses he wracked his brains to come up with.

* * *

_'__Feelings have no place in the life of a shinobi. Shinobi exist as tools for the village, itself a tool of their country. Tools are to be useful. Emotions compromise usefulness.'_

It was one of the first things he could remember his father ever saying to him.

Looking back, the combined pressures of being clan head, leader of the village police force, as well as navigating the lingering ravages of the Third Shinobi World War, had all likely prompted this belief in his father. At the time, though, he only knew that his father was a Godlike man whose love and pride he'd craved. He'd taken the words to heart, as he'd done with any word from his father, and strove to live by them.

He'd seen much as a child. He'd been quiet, observant, and often overlooked. His father had kept him close, as the heir to the Uchiha Clan leadership. Later he would wonder if his father had conducted his meetings in his son's presence on purpose, or if it had been an oversight. Uchiha Fugaku had been anything but absent-minded; it stood to reason he'd brought his impressionable son along deliberately.

No doubt his father's intent had been to color his heir to his liking, and instill in him loyalty and love for the clan. However, what had struck Itachi most was the many faces people used when dealing with his father. His father had been no better. Fugaku showed one face to clan members, another to the Hokage and council, and yet another at home.

Even Itachi's mother had shown herself to be capable of callous manipulation when attending meetings with his father. With her son, however, she was smiles and soft caresses, pride and praise. He could remember seeing her slit a man's throat in the back room of their house for delivering bad news that was sure to enrage her husband. Itachi had been hiding behind the door across the hall. She had disposed of the body, washed her hands, and proceeded to cook dinner. Later, he'd seen her don a particular kimono known to be his father's favorite on her. She had served her husband tea with a flawless little ceremony when he'd come, and later, Itachi had heard the furtive sounds of his parents' lovemaking. His father had no doubt been delivered the news only after he'd been handled by the dexterous attentions of his wife.

In this manner, Itachi had learned to keep his feelings and thoughts close almost before he could speak. The only one who'd ever been open and honest had been his little brother.

Sasuke had been born. At that time in his life, Itachi had possessed enough intelligence to know that he was surrounded on all sides by lies and liars. His father had taken him to Konoha hospital, to his mother's room there, and he'd been barely tall enough to see over the side of the bed. He'd caught the sight of a white bundle topped with a tuft of black hair nestled against his mother's side. Then he was being guided to the visitor's chair and the bundle had been placed in his small arms.

He'd taken one look at the small face and had a complex thought that he hadn't understood till years later: _I'm holding heaven. _

Sasuke had been pure, guileless, and innocent as he grew up. His emotions were carefree, wildly so. Left in Itachi's care as he often was, Sasuke had become attached to his reserved sibling with an intensity that Itachi returned tenfold. He'd felt his love for Sasuke as a great, immovable, terribly powerful integration to his inner make-up; there was nothing under the sun he wouldn't do for his brother. Nothing. No crime he wouldn't commit to keep him safe, no blood he wouldn't spill to spare Sasuke's.

As they'd aged, he'd needed to behave with the discretion expected of him. Spying on the council, on his family, immersed in deceit…if his fierce love for Sasuke had been known it would have been used against him, and against Sasuke himself.

Sasuke had whined about this loss of affection, as he'd perceived it. It had twisted Itachi's insides to disappoint his brother so often, but it had been necessary. It had been the only way to keep him pure, to keep him innocent, not to mention safe.

When he'd been called upon to commit his final act of betrayal, which in truth had been proof of his loyalty, it had nearly killed him. To hurt Sasuke, to _break _him as he had, to taint him in order to save him…Giving up his reputation, his village, and his family had not hurt a fraction as much as giving up Sasuke's bold love. He'd turned from his brother's undeveloped Sharingan, his own tears evident, and lost himself.

Akatsuki had been comforting in many ways: the members were equally reticent individuals, not prone to prying into each other's lives, so he was not questioned; For the most part, they were upfront about their agenda, which was a welcome change from the wealth of deceit he'd experienced in Konoha; He was forced to travel extensively with his partner Kisame, which afforded him plenty of time to internalize his grief and regret about his losses. His existence in the organization was a period in his life where he essentially ceased to think or feel anything. Madara was a source of distrust, but one that he monitored with indifference. Other than that, he kept one ear out for any news on Konoha, and perhaps his brother. His days were long, uneventful, and emotionless.

When the day finally came that he did see Sasuke again, the day Akatsuki was attacked by Naruto's rescue party, he'd felt sure his brother had come to kill him. But near the beginning of the fight, Sasuke had met his eyes. His brother had given a brief hard, bright smile of blinding love, and then whirled away to lend support to his friends.

Itachi remembered that moment. He remembered it clearly.

He'd been sure Sasuke had spent the years hating him. And he'd lived with that knowledge, had accepted it. The weight of grief was familiar on his heart, a weight he would carry to his grave, and gladly, if it meant his brother would be safe.

But Sasuke had outsmarted him. He'd discovered the truth on his own and had come for him. His own little brother, who he'd done the unthinkable to protect, was now here and protecting him, it seemed. Sasuke had sent a clear message with his grin: He forgave his older brother. He loved him still, no matter what he'd done.

Itachi recalled feeling a surge of such incredible power in himself that he'd feared he'd drop dead then and there if he didn't unleash it. He'd turned immediately to Akatsuki, who quickly learned that they'd never seen Itachi's true strength. Even ill as he was, there was no stopping him. Madara especially stood no chance against Itachi and Sasuke.

Sasuke had flown to him once they'd delivered the killing blow to Madara, even as Itachi was sinking to his knees in exhaustion. He remembered his brother hugging him fiercely, crying all over him. Sasuke had said over and over how he could come home now, how all was forgiven and everything would be all right. He remembered thinking right then, with his brother's arms around him, that he was already home.

-oOo-

Back in the village, the villagers had showered him with welcome and adulation, regret and remorse. It had all seemed surreal. It was so far removed from how he'd always imagined his return, and he was by then so ill, that his first few weeks in Konoha had been spent with him in and out of consciousness at the hospital. He had only snippets of memory from that time: The Fifth introducing herself while tending to him. Her young aide, a Yamanaka, assisting her sometimes. And Sasuke. Always Sasuke, either there, leaning over his face with wide eyes, asking if he was all right, or else heard in the hall, yelling about when he could go in and see his brother.

But then there was her. The pink-haired girl/woman who was noticeably more skilled than the blonde aide, and seemed to be more often available than the Hokage. She seemed to be the one who tended him most frequently, at any rate. He recalled seeing her fight Akatsuki with his brother, and realized that this must be one of Sasuke's teammates. She had a no-nonsense efficiency, coupled with smiling kindness, that he found strangely appealing. The Hokage was not as affable, and the blonde one was at times unsure. He came to look forward to the pink-haired one's shifts. He soon knew which days and hours she worked, and when he could expect to see her. Whenever Sasuke was present for these examinations, she and his brother always talked easily and comfortably. He gleaned much information about her in this manner, listening quietly while pretending to be asleep.

After he'd been discharged, he and Sasuke had been able to quickly rebuild their relationship. He recalled his brother re-taking the Chuunin exam, followed by some kind of mission issued by Kakashi that had resulted in his brother suddenly spending a lot of time with Naruto….and in Sakura, as he'd learned her name was, spending time with Kakashi.

Being more skilled than the blonde aide, Sakura was normally at work in the hospital while the blonde was sent to make house calls to him. Sometimes he went in for Tsunade herself to check him. He rarely saw Sakura in the months immediately following his discharge.

For the brief time Sakura went around the village with Kakashi, he'd come to terms with the fact that it didn't sit well with him. He wouldn't call it jealousy, but he recognized that the starry eyes Sakura looked at her former sensei with were greeted with tolerance or indifference on the Copy Ninja's part.

He'd waited. Once or twice Sakura was assigned to conduct his check-ups. During the two years since coming back to the village, he'd discovered first an attraction, then a sense of…he didn't have a word for it. Only that the longer she was single, the more he felt he had a chance.

He watched her. Studied her. Soon after being discharged from the hospital, he'd locked himself in Sasuke's room one day while his brother was out, and gone through all his possessions. He'd hunted up every scrap of information he could find on his brother's teammate. He'd found notes, pictures, CD's with her name on them, books she'd lent him, and even a blouse. The blouse was white, with frilly sleeves. It had a large bloodstain around a sizable rip in the back. He found this shoved in the back of Sasuke's closet. He'd taken it and held it to his nose, able to detect the faint aroma of the perfume she preferred wearing.

Later, he'd infiltrated the Hokage's office one night and gone through every file the Fifth had on her protégé. He'd read long into the night, and then had gone to another part of the building and located Team 7's file. He'd read Sakura's information and accomplishments greedily. By the time he'd lifted the Genjutsu he'd placed on the building guards and gotten back to his apartment, he'd had a lot to think about. He'd sat up in his bed, listening to the stealthy sounds of his brother and Naruto having sex, and come to a few realizations.

One: he was obsessed.

Two: he was okay with that.

Three: He wanted Sakura. Intimately wanted her.

He kept coming back to the idea of love. Kept trying to see inside himself, to see if he was in love with her. He couldn't say that he was, though. He lined up what he did know of his feelings.

He found Sakura's intelligence, abilities, and personality to be a pleasing mixture of contrasts. She was a formidable, no-frills, and simple person while managing to be highly feminine. The blonde one was excessively feminine, but something about her grated against Itachi's nerves. No, Sakura was different.

He remembered Konan. Konan had been formidable, but severe. Austere, even. Not womanly at all. Itachi had not interacted with any other women during his time away from the village, and his time before leaving had been fraught with intrigue and espionage. Sakura was the first woman he'd ever _seen _as a woman, the first who'd ever appealed to him as such, and the very uniqueness of this occurrence was what he suspected had him in the state he was in. Outside of Sasuke, whom he loved with a passion that was definitely unhealthy (he could see that now, and cared not at all) he could not name a single thing in life that he'd ever wanted the way he wanted Sakura. He wanted her to be _his, _to possess her and own her.

And still he waited.

He'd taken the time to educate himself on a few matters regarding relationships, by reading a book or two…all right, if the truth were known he'd taken up brief residence in Konoha's library. He'd later found some biology books in the medical section and spent long hours studying the reproductive cycles of people, and…certain other things he'd been ignorant of. He'd considered engaging in a practical lesson with a street walker he'd heard tell of, but thought better of it at the last second.

Now that he had information, all the information he could find, he'd felt a measure of confidence. He was as ready as he would ever be, or so he'd believed. He'd waited until his final check-up to request Sakura. He was ready to make his move.

-oOo-

She'd arrived before he was quite ready, catching him in a state of semi-undress. He'd gotten through her examination with a mixture of nerves and resolve that had left him stiff and silent. He tried to imagine what her reaction would be, if she would reject him out of hand. Maybe she would respond favorably? There had been a host of flowery words in the books he'd read, meant to describe the act of unleashing passion and ways to unleash his lady's passion, but these had been nearly incomprehensible to him. He would rely on the clinical yet vastly more easily understood descriptions given in the medical text book.

Yosh. The examination was done. He was ready.

He'd asked if she did random things. Her answer meant she was all right with him touching her. He had proceeded to unleash his passion.

He wasn't sure if it could be termed that, though, since he associated the word 'passion' with love. He only knew that he wanted her with an intensity that drove him to kiss her harder than he'd meant to. He was untutored in the art, but how hard could it be? He'd seen his brother doing it. He thought maybe he was doing it correctly and successfully when Sakura's arms had come around his neck to choke him. He'd allowed it. By then he would have allowed her to plunge a blade into his chest, so swept up was he in the feel of kissing her.

There was a brief, shining moment of clarity before his sanity went out the window: he was, to quote his brother, completely, utterly, and most righteously fucked. It was a phrase he understood, also from his brother, to mean that all hope was lost. Passion or not, something was definitely unleashed in him when he kissed Sakura, and whatever it was, it washed away rational thought entirely.

It was the first time he'd kissed anyone. The unbearably personal nature of the act was like a battering ram to the carefully constructed walls he had up around his true feelings and emotions. It was the demolition of these walls that had brought on the moment of clarity, before everything behind the walls had rushed out of him.

Yet still he was aware. He learned from her, went with what she did with her tongue and used his own in a similar fashion. The feel of her acceptance, and the sound of her moans, had him nearly physically ill with a sudden deluge of desire. He'd picked her up and sat her on the table, unaware at the time that he'd put her in the cake. He'd only wanted more leverage to do what he wanted.

Unable to help himself, he'd pulled her hips against his. The feel of his crotch pressed to hers, an area on his body that had never seen much activity, had caused him to lose himself complete by wrapping his arms around her. His body reacted instinctively to what he was feeling; the mechanics of kissing suddenly made sense and he tilted his head. He was hungry for her. So hungry. The way her body heated in his arms did nothing but heat him in turn.

She shook in his grasp. She whimpered and moaned, until she eventually turned her head to rest it on his shoulder. It was then he realized her dress was gone, and her top half was naked against his chest. He had a dim memory of ripping her dress when the walls inside him had come crashing down.

Something about the way she held him so closely, how she rested her cheek against his shoulder with such helplessness, caused his heart to wrench and stutter. He dropped his lips to her shoulder in turn. His hands massaged her trembling back in an effort to calm her if he'd frightened her with his ineptitude. Then the need to kiss her again had grown too great for him to resist. He'd run his hand through her silky hair, had gazed into her wide green eyes. This time he'd approached the kiss with restraint, not wanting to attack as he'd done the first time.

She'd let him remove the rest of her clothing. She didn't seem shy or hesitant or reserved. Only eager. She wanted him, he could see, and this quickened his pulse in a way his desire hadn't.

With a woman at last, and the woman he wanted no less, he'd been indescribably curious. He'd lain her down there in the cake and proceeded to satisfy his curiosity. His desire baked and burned in him still, but he found that this only fed his curiosity. He remembered wanting to know what she tasted like everywhere. She had been soft. Velvety skin the likes of which he'd never felt flushed to a becoming pink beneath his lips.

He'd sucked her nipples, fascinatingly sensitive things, until she'd made sobbing sounds. He understood that this pleased her, and then set about finding other places that would bring her similar enjoyment.

When he'd gotten to the apex of her thighs, he'd paused, staring in fixed admiration. The illustrations in the medical books hadn't done it justice. His mind associated this highly secretive part of a woman's anatomy with the mystery surrounding women in general. It was only when she'd slowly closed her thighs that he'd realized he'd embarrassed her by looking for so long. He studied her face, the way her bottom lip was caught between her teeth, and decided she did not seem angry.

An idea had come to him, spawned by how good she'd tasted. He'd dug into the cake surrounding her and come up with handfuls of it. She'd gasped at the way he'd coated her with the ruined cake, but had not complained. And when she'd sucked his fingers clean, after he'd rubbed icing on her lips, he had known a moment of sharp lust. A haze of this feeling had fallen over him then, one that muffled all his senses to anything but the feel of her beneath his hands and the way she reacted to what he did. He had indulged in the urge to first cover her with cake, then eat it off of her. His desire had tempered somewhat during this, but he'd felt it slowly climbing back when she licked icing from his face in turn. He'd spent a long time satisfying himself by lingering over each part of her body; he'd spent two years imagining this moment. Despite the cruel twist of his desire, he meant to know her as completely as possible.

The fact that she lay complacently for all he did helped alleviate his nerves, but he still put off knowing her fully until he was sure her torso had no more delights to offer.

He'd knelt and placed her feet on his shoulders. He spread her carefully, aware that this spot was the key to fulfillment for women. The flowery phrases in the book flitted across his mind, as did the impersonal illustrations in the medical book. He'd absently braced his forearms against her thighs when she tried to close them. What made him lean forward and place his mouth on her had been simple: there was cake on her.

He'd licked it away. Her body had stiffened, but that intimate swipe of his tongue had sent a burst of something akin to electricity through him. An unabashed need to eat her here had driven him to push his head between her quivering thighs and suck ruthlessly.

It seemed that the same searing, inflammatory passion gripped them both. He felt his hair pulled painfully as he settled on a steady suction to the tiny, fascinating parts of her sex. This display from her, coupled with the way her breathing gusted in and out of her, matched the sudden frenzy that his own desire provoked in him. He switched to the curious nub of flesh in front of his nose and was rewarded with an upheaval in her body that signaled her pleasure. Now at last, something from what he'd read came back to him and he slid two fingers into her. He worked awkwardly at first, until he was able to time his hand and mouth satisfactorily. Only a few moments of this, and she seemed to fall apart. She pushed against him, but he was too drunk on her to stop at that point. He resisted her strong legs until she shrieked and shoved him away violently.

His senses had immediately returned to discover that he'd apparently done something wrong. The heels of her hands were over her eyes, her fingers disappearing into her sweaty hair. She was crying and quivering. He watched for a time, unsure of what to do. Then he finally approached her cautiously and pulled one of her hands down. Her face was very red. He'd asked if he should stop. She'd said no. After a careful assessment of her expression, he'd gauged that she still wanted him. That was a relief. Holding her gaze, he'd slid his fingers into her again, wanting to please her and make her forget his previous errors.

He'd been slow and careful about it. She seemed to respond favorably to this gentler treatment, which caused him to mentally berate himself for earlier behaving with such a lack of control.

He was accustomed to dealing destruction with his hands. This… probing the sensitive, delicate, slippery cavern of her womanhood, necessitated a level of restraint and conscientiousness on his part that had his whole body tingling. He held her eyes, watching for discomfort or pleasure. The way her depths shivered around his fingers, how her body twisted and squirmed, all served to have him panting through his nose; his own body was hard as a rock and stiff with the insistent need to perform the final act at last. He made himself wait.

By chance, his probing discovered a place in her that she _wanted _him to touch. "There," she'd wheezed. He'd noted this and let his fingered rub this place solely. Each time he saw that what he was doing was close to hurting her again, to making her have the reaction she'd had before, he stilled his fingers. Only when her breathing had slowed once more would he then continue. However, it seemed that even with his restraint and care, he caused her discomfort. He had a hand braced near her ribcage on the table as he supported his weight. Her hand latched onto his arm as he rubbed inside her, and squeezed. She squeezed harder whenever he stopped rubbing, squeezing and squeezing, nearly breaking his arm, until he finally realized that what she wanted was for her earlier crisis to happen again. He rubbed dubiously, without stopping, until her inner walls squeezed around his hand and drenched his fingers with added moisture. Her breath froze as her entire body spasmed…. And he realized that she'd reached fulfillment, that he'd in fact pleasured her accurately.

Entering her had been exquisite torture. He'd ben nearly incapacitated with nerves that the moment finally arrived, which had compounded the tortuous sensation of entering a woman at long last.

She'd been so small and tight that he'd needed several tries to accomplish the act. He'd had to stop a few times as he felt his own crisis rumbling closer. All in all, once he'd been completely sheathed in her heat, he'd had to grit his teeth and exercise grim, ruthless control of himself. The pleasure was such that he was sure he'd shame himself by passing out of consciousness. But he held on, held to Sakura, until his racing heart had slowed a bit, and his blood had simmered down from boiling to a sizzling, yet urgent simmer.

Once he'd encouraged her to hold him in turn and pushed her legs up to give himself room, he thought maybe he wouldn't be able to hold onto his control after all. He tried, truly, to perform gently. He really did, but wanting her for so long, and tasting this carnal fruit at long last…he was soon driving into her body with harder and harder stokes, hanging on to his climax by the very skin of his teeth. His awareness of everything fell away until only the feel of her own climaxes and what they did to his swiftly fading composure held any meaning for him. He strove mightily to acquit himself well, his eyes squeezed tightly shut. Why, it was worse than maintaining a full-blown Susanoo, trying to restrain his climax. He'd quite literally felt as if he were going insane, the effort was so monstrous.

One thing he knew for sure: her passion had definitely been unleashed. He saw her tears of pleasure, felt when she scoured his back with her nails. He let her know it was all right, that he felt the same, by kissing her skin from time to time, but really he couldn't stop. He didn't think he'd ever be able to stop, that he would ever have enough of knowing this particular girl/woman like this. He'd chosen.

Another image from one of the books had surfaced in his fractured thoughts, and he'd tried a new position. It opened new doors of delight for them both, he could tell. He was sure his own moans were drowned out by her yells, but he thrust deeply without pause or restraint until he could finally hold back no more. The relief of letting go at last had robbed him of sight, hearing and the ability to speak. He spilled his seed between their feet, frozen in the wild throes of his climax. He'd taken a moment to get his bearings, then proceeded to have her again.

Later, when he'd emptied himself on the floor a final time, he'd watched as she slowly sat up and located her dress. She didn't say anything. Her eyes had a far off, hazy look to them. Concerned, he'd halted her with a hand on her arm. She'd stopped, and he'd bent and kissed her. She'd let go of her dress to throw her arms around his neck and kiss him back hungrily. She used this position to press herself to his body, causing his limp manhood to stir weakly between them. When he'd released her, her eyes had been closed, her head lolling bonelessly backward, and her mouth open. She swayed there where she stood for several moments, seemingly unaware of him. Then she'd opened her eyes halfway, stooped to retrieve her dress, pulled it on, and turned to walk out his front door. She'd said not a word. And she'd left her bag sitting by the dining room table.

* * *

He hadn't been worried…at first. He'd been occupied with cleaning the cake mess before Sasuke and Naruto got home. He'd spent some time going through the contents of Sakura's purse and had just been in the process of closing it again when Sasuke did walk through the door. He remembered telling him some nonsense about the cake and purse and throwing Sasuke some money for a new cake. Then he'd gone to his room and fallen face-first into his bed. He hadn't known anything until the next morning when he'd woken up.

He'd expected her to come to him at some point during the day, and so had remained home. He recalled spending hours, literally, reliving that first sexual experience. Already his body was heating, his shaft stiffening. Her sighs, her cries of release…the way she'd held him. His heart pounded heavily with the remembered vision of her. She'd been so soft and willing. He'd never dared to hope that she could want him as much as he wanted her. He allowed himself a small fantasy: Sakura had secretly longed for him from afar, as he had done for her. She'd been overcome with the shyness expected of her sex, though, and so had not approached him. Only his bold move of showing his own feelings had allowed her to finally reveal her true feelings. She herself had stated she wasn't the type to fool around and do random things. Ergo, she had chosen him as deliberately and consciously as he had chosen her. He would allow a period of courtship to develop between them, as he recalled these things were done, before asking her to be his wife. Moderation in all things.

Except sex.

Heavens, if he'd had any idea it would be like that he would have approached her, or anyone, sooner. No wonder Naruto and Sasuke squealed like stuck pigs each and every night. There'd be no moderation from him regarding sex, of that he was sure. He hoped Sakura wouldn't mind a man with a keen appetite…

He remembered looking toward his window then and being surprised to find that night had fallen. Sakura hadn't come by.

* * *

The next two days had been an experience in anxiety, an emotion he could honestly say was new to him. Where was she? His body fairly wept for her, and his thoughts were full of her. Her smell was still in his nose. On the third day, he decided that he must locate her.

Which was easy enough. She was at work. The moment he saw her, he knew that something was wrong. She avoided meeting his eyes, ducking her head altogether when he walked up to the nurses' station. He let his hands, a trifle unsteady by now, rest on the counter. "You said you don't do random things," he'd reminded her by way of a greeting.

"I don't." Her answer was short.

Could she really not bear to look at him? The thought that she'd been avoiding him, that he'd obviously done something to put her off was… painful. It left a burning sensation in his chest. Still, he wasn't willing to give up. Regarding her curt answer, he said, "That would imply you were comfortable with what happened."

"I-" But she closed her mouth and bent her head closer to her clipboard.

A cramp had knotted his stomach then, but he'd kept his face and tone neutral, as he was accustomed to doing. He found his budding feelings, his emergence from his perpetual shell of indifference, reversing in on themselves. She'd hurt him, and he was defensive. "You're avoiding me," he accused her. "Which tells me that you regret what we did. You left without a word that day. Did I hurt you?" He hated the plaintive sound of that last question, but he had to know. If he _had _hurt her, then he could set about reassuring her that it wouldn't happen again.

Her voice was strained. "Can we please not do this here?" She looked at him at last, a small peek through her pink bangs, and immediately her face turned red. She lifted her head a little more to continue looking at him.

He'd understood. Her words and manner were crystal clear; she didn't want to talk to him, and obviously didn't want to see him again. He'd thought she'd accepted him, wanted him, but apparently he'd been wrong. The cramp in his middle intensified, but he kept himself under strict control. He stepped back from the counter. "I misjudged you," he'd said.

He left her standing there, staring at his back.

_Good riddance._

* * *

During the rest of that week, he'd been withdrawn. Short-tempered, and unwilling to communicate with anyone. Sasuke had come up to him and said, "Dude. You know I love you, right? But a withdrawn guy suddenly getting even _more _withdrawn? Scary shit. Naruto and I are going camping for a few days; there's, like, this black cloud hanging over the apartment with you moping around in it. Whoever screwed you over, just kill 'em and be done with it already. Jesus."

He'd done nothing of the kind, of course. He'd simply repaired his crumbling walls as best he could and proceeded to try and put Sakura out of his mind.

It was an attempt he'd failed at.

He, of course, did not accept failure of any kind in himself, so it wasn't until she surprised him in a dango shop at the end of a week that he even realized it. Her light floral smell washed over him as she sat down across from him and fixed him with a direct stare. He made sure to keep his eyes on his dango and tea cup. He had noted, though, that this brisk manner was more in keeping with the girl/woman he'd watched for two years than the timid one he'd seen at the hospital. He felt his loins stir and lightly pressed his thighs together. He likewise tamped down the burst of gladness he'd felt at seeing her again.

"I got scared," she said forcefully. "I've never behaved like that. And those things you did…"

He'd glanced at her briefly then, remembering very well what he'd done. Other than that, he pretended she wasn't shredding his nerves with her presence by continuing to eat in an unconcerned manner. He had to grip his dango skewer tightly to mask the tremor in his hand.

"I'd never done them before," she whispered. "It just scared me."

So. He'd been right, and what he'd done had put her off. Still… "You didn't behave as if you were frightened when I was with you." Rather, she'd behaved as if she'd enjoyed his attentions. He continued to eat as if his insides weren't writhing with her proximity. Of all people he'd known in his life she was the only one to affect him like this, physically. It did unpleasant things to his self-image to know that where she was concerned, he was so weak. He'd always thought of himself as capable. Reliably adept at succeeding at whatever he set out to do.

She brought him back to the present. "After," she said. "I felt…" But she didn't elaborate. She dropped her eyes to where her hands were clasped on the table.

What _had _she felt? "Why did you allow it then?" _If she says she cares, even a little, I will take her here and now and never let her go. _He allowed himself to hope that she would confess to having feelings, breath held.

"I think you're attractive."

He'd breathed again, through the hurt and disappointment that chilled his skin. He took a moment to bring himself back under his customary iron-clad control. _I will never indulge those feelings again, _he told himself. "And now?" he'd asked. "Are you over your fear?" After all, why was she sitting here? What did she want?

He was forced to look at her when her silence stretched out. Her eyes were less forceful now. Her face held a…tremulous quality to it that gave him pause. "Are there any feelings involved here?" she'd asked softly.

Remembering his own bruised, and recently tucked away feelings, he evaded answering. "Are there?" he countered.

He saw the way she bit her lip, nodded, and quietly stood to leave. She walked out of the dango shop with her head held high and one hand fisted at her side. The other was held over her midsection.

His hand remained holding his tea cup to his lips.

* * *

He had gone home that evening to find Sasuke and Naruto still camping. He'd gone to the living room, turned off the lamp, and sat in the dark.

All right. Very well. If he must admit, then he would.

He …was unable to forget her.

There. It had been acknowledged. And apparently, she was very different from what he'd first thought. She was shallow and immature. That annoyed him greatly, that he could have longed for her so extensively, kept her on a pedestal for so long, when she was so undeserving.

He regretted that thought immediately. Everyone had faults, most especially him. Perhaps he'd rushed their physical encounter. Perhaps one had to let the courtship bloom _before _consummating one's passion? He'd been too impatient, though, even if he _had _waited two years. And now it seemed she'd only thought him attractive and harbored no feelings whatsoever, while he himself was slowly being roasted alive over the coals of his own desire. He had to have her, yet she did not want him. What to do?

His mind went back to their encounter in the dango shop. Why had she come to explain herself? What had she wanted from that conversation? It had seemed as if she'd been apologizing, but for what? Running away? Did that mean she regretted that action? And if so, did that then mean she wanted to resume their… he couldn't call it a relationship. Their activities. Did she want to resume their activities?

He'd taken a deep, calming breath at that point and proceeded to do some serious thinking.

His life had previously been so ordered and predictable. Even staid. Dangerous, yes. Deceitful, regrettable, and lonely, certainly. His one ray of light had been Sasuke. The thought of his brother, his only remaining family, had sustained him in his darkest hours with Akatsuki, through his commission of the most atrocious deeds. Sasuke had been his reason for going on, for doing the things he'd subsequently done. Itachi was okay with this. Living such a meager existence with minimal, if any, redeeming qualities to it had become second nature to him. One learned to subsist on next to nothing quite easily when they were forced to. He'd been very used to his inner landscape being a quiet, serene, and undisturbed place.

Coming back to the village had changed everything. Everything. For one, his role in the village was now completely reversed. Instead of living in the shadows, with secrecy and deception, he was expected to take his place as some sort of hero. What he'd done to his clan did not alienate him, as he had alienated himself from society. He was viewed with sympathy and awe, with offers of friendship and understanding. He'd declined both, preferring to limit the extent of his socializing to his brother; dealing with such friendly people did nothing but put his back up.

Sasuke had been a shock, to say the least. His kid brother was no longer fixated completely on his older brother. He had a life. He had friends. He had Naruto.

To be fair, Sasuke did spend an inordinate amount of time with Itachi once he was back in the village. He turned to the task of re-building their relationship with honest enthusiasm, and clearly still idolized and looked up to his older brother. But there was Naruto, and even before Kakashi's mysterious mission, Itachi could see that Sasuke harbored some disturbingly strong feelings for the Jinchuuriki. Then there was the amount of time Itachi had been away; things just weren't the same between him and Sasuke.

Perhaps this was what had allowed him to take an interest in Sakura. Maybe it was how unlike other women she was. Or maybe now that danger and lies didn't surround him on every side, he was free to really see people. Regardless, almost as soon as he'd met her, she'd struck him as exceptional in a sea of petty, common females.

-oOo-

His brother and Naruto had come in the house the next day, rather dirty from camping. Sasuke had taken one look at him sitting in the dark and groaned. "Dammit, Itachi, you didn't get your problem fixed?"

He'd weighed several possible answers. Looking at the way Sasuke and Naruto stood staring at him, he'd realized of a sudden that his brother was in a relationship. That he could possibly offer advice. After all, he wasn't a boy anymore, but a man, if a young man. The books had not been helpful. He decided to ask Sasuke for help. "What would you do if you wanted something badly but could not have it?"

Sasuke had dropped his bag, looked to Naruto, and said, "Let me handle him," as if Itachi had not been sitting right there.

"Hey, he's your brother." Naruto had backed away with his hands up.

To Itachi, Sasuke had said, "Depends. Can I buy this thing?"

He'd frowned. "No."

"Does it belong to someone else?"

Thinking of Sakura's single status, he'd given the same answer. "No."

"Then I'd fucking take it," Sasuke announced with some surprise. "I advise you do the same and stop sulking around."

By now Sasuke had walked around the apartment and switched on the lights while he'd been talking. He and Naruto were now in the kitchen. Itachi got up and followed them into the bright room. Naruto was at the wall cabinets, staring inside.

"Suppose it cannot be taken so easily?" he'd asked.

Sasuke was biting into a moon pie. He shrugged, mouth full. Itachi turned to Naruto, who was now closing the cabinets in satisfaction; every time he and Sasuke left the apartment for any length of time, Naruto felt it necessary to admonish Itachi not to touch his ramen. If he was able to come home and find his stockpile unmolested, the blond youth was happy. "Do you also feel one should take what they want, regardless?" he asked him.

Naruto sat at the small kitchen table. He and Sasuke had followed suit. Naruto wordlessly held out one hand for a moon pie, which Sasuke gave him, and bit richly into it before speaking. He fixed Itachi with thoughtful eyes. "Maybe what you want isn't a _thing_, precisely?"

Itachi had given a small nod.

"Maybe it's…an outcome, or a result," Naruto supplied, polishing off the moon pie. He stared at what was left of Sasuke's as he continued speaking. "If that's the case, and if I were going for a specific result or outcome, I'd find a way to make it happen. I wouldn't let anything stop me, either. Failure isn't an option, you know? You going to gimme that, or what?" he'd said to Sasuke then.

Itachi had watched his brother handing over his half-eaten moon pie as he considered. "It is sound advice, from both of you. I will give it some thought."

* * *

And so he had. For days. Until the images of what he'd done with Sakura, and the dreams of her, had finally pushed him to the edge.

He'd gone to the hospital with one thought in his mind: re-claiming what was his. Not in those precise terms, but he'd been prepared to deal violently with anyone who got in his way, even if that person was Sakura herself. Not a frame of mind conducive to courting the object of your interest, but he'd by then come to the understanding that his thoughts were not necessarily logical when it came to her. No matter.

When he'd found her in a deserted upstairs corridor, it had been as if a lion had spotted its prey. He'd jumped her without the slightest hesitation or remorse, and quickly confirmed she was alone. He'd dragged her into the closest empty room and given in at last to what he'd been made to suffer in her absence. He said nothing as he lifted her and impaled her in one move. Nor would he. She was free to loathe him for rape, if she wanted. He was not proud of himself either, but was too beset with sexual denial and longing for her to let it stop him. But then her arms came around him, and her inner walls turned rock hard as she climaxed on his shaft, and he knew then that come Hell itself or worse, he could not let her leave him again. Out of the question. Her legs wrapped around him, and her climaxes were endless as he struggled to pleasure them both. These things, evidence that her words had been lies, were a balm to his bruised ego, nectar to his starvation for her. She buried her face in his neck and squeaked his name in surrender, and he was whole.

-oOo-

But after, in the following days, he hadn't been sure of what to do. He could recall, from his youth and things he'd gleaned from the adults around him, that courtship was a formal affair. It was often an arranged affair. Things had changed since then, obviously. He witnessed men and women behaving in a much more casual manner than they had before he'd left the village. Truthfully, he wanted to place her in his apartment and keep her there, at his side. He wanted to spend every moment with her, but he could not bring himself to behave in such a needy fashion. He'd settled on seeing her on three carefully chosen days during the week, and hoped that it appeared random.

He observed her carefully for signs that his company was at all intrusive or tiresome to her. He escorted her to lunch or the library, or else waited for her while she trained or ran some errand. She always greeted him with a smile. Sometimes her arm brushed his as they walked and she didn't pull away. Gradually, he relaxed. He began searching for something to speak of whenever he was with her, but nothing ever came to mind. He was used to keeping his thoughts to himself, to traveling with Kisame for days at a time in silence.

She didn't seem to mind his inability to make small talk. And when they'd found themselves alone at the training grounds one afternoon, and he'd leaned in to kiss her, she hadn't stopped him. He'd leapt with her to a tree, and filled their silence another way. He'd been leery of her leaving again afterward, but she'd only sat in his arms, with her head on his shoulder, and hummed softly in contentment.

That had been the extent of their communication for some time, until he'd worked up the courage to finally speak to her. He'd asked her a question he'd always wondered, and had been rewarded with a lengthy answer that had done away with his nerves completely. They'd both relaxed at having the ice broken between them at last. He'd met her parents that same evening, and though they'd received him with eager politeness, their presence had quelled their budding comfort.

Thereafter, things had gone smoothly. He'd made love to her whenever he could and was inwardly delighted that she sometimes initiated their encounters. They talked more easily each time they saw each other. He'd never had this kind of open camaraderie with anyone, this kind of physical and emotional connection. Not even with Sasuke. He kept their conversations to intellectual topics, though, and his feelings to himself. He didn't know what she felt, other than enjoyment of his attentions and interest in his conversations. He would not risk alienating her by showing the truth of what he felt. He'd taken his brother's advice and gone after what he wanted; now he meant to hold on to it.

-oOo-

Still, she was so…straightforward and earnest in everything, that he couldn't resist playing with her. This, too, was a new concept for him. A few times while he'd been in Akatsuki, only once or twice really, he'd been visited by the urge to disrupt the ever-solemn air their meetings had by perpetrating some prank or other. Nothing major, but he'd known a desire to see how they'd react to something occurring that was not in their plans. These had been idle, passing thoughts.

The incident in the restaurant still brought a private smile to his lips whenever he thought about it. Her consternation, the way she'd just about shrieked the place down once the waitress had left them…and her anger! He had seen the way she'd nearly killed Sasuke and Naruto both on the night he'd had her in the cake, but this time it had been directed at him. They'd been thrown out of the restaurant, where she'd proceeded to cause a scene right there in the street. She'd gone on about being embarrassed to her core and his lack of shame and many, many things. She'd leveled a punch at him that he'd caught with ease.

That had shocked her out of her anger. Prior to being healed he might have been knocked down by such a blow, but he was returned to full health. Enhanced with chakra as it was, he'd been able to see this and counter with his own chakra. This display of his own strength had her backing off immediately. She'd given him a strange look, then turned and jumped to the nearest rooftop, leaping away.

He'd considered following her, but decided to let her anger cool off. He'd walked home, and along the way he allowed himself a long, rich laugh, one he hadn't indulged in since he was a child. It had been so bad that he'd eventually had to stop and put a hand on a shop window, nearly bent double. Lord, but the woman was hilarious in her fury! And over something so minor! Remembering just what it was that had caused her to storm his apartment a couple of months ago and beat his brother and Naruto senseless, he'd laughed even harder. It seemed little things set her off. How his brother had survived being her teammate, he'd never know, but he intended to tease her often.

And when, a few weeks later, they'd come across Kakashi walking in the street, Itachi couldn't repress his small smirk of pleasure. Kakashi had looked up from his book at seeing Sakura walk by. He'd seen Itachi at her side, seen the adoring look she'd given him, and his one eye had narrowed the faintest bit. Itachi, for his part, had taken care to show the he, at least, did not regard Sakura with tolerance or indifference. He'd put his arm around her shoulders, and she had scrunched them in pleasure, giggling. In Itachi's estimation, it had been a truly delicious comeuppance for the Copy Ninja.

* * *

He looked outside his window now, and saw that he'd wasted another day thinking about her. Sighing, he got up and decided he would work off his tension and worry by training. But when would she be back? Why hadn't she told him she was leaving? He didn't know what he'd do if she'd taken it into that pink head of hers to avoid him again.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Couldn't fit it all in this chap. Next chap is the last, and will be done in 12 hours or so. Hopefully.

Beta: None.

* * *

Chapter 3

During that darkness, right after Naruto had given his articulate thoughts on the matter, Sasuke stood stock-still. His mind was racing away a mile a minute. Suddenly his brother's strange behavior of the past couple of months made sense. He remembered the conversations he'd had with him, the advice he'd given him, and winced. He'd effectively told his brother to go after Sakura. So had Naruto.

A scraping sound was heard in the dark, off to his left. A moment later a spark winked into existence, followed by a small cascade of them, which was then followed by a tiny flame. The flame grew as it was fed twigs and dry grasses. Finally, a larger branch was set on this flame; Naruto had rebuilt the fire.

They stood looking at where Sakura hadn't moved. Sasuke said, "How the hell are you fucking my brother for _three months_ and don't tell me? The fuck, Sakura, we're supposed to be tight!" He did not look happy.

Naruto tsk-ed and went to sit protectively by Sakura, who'd buried her face in her hands at Sasuke's anger. "Don't yell at her like that. She's pregnant." He lifted his hand to pat her shoulder, but hesitated. It was so weird. He pretty much still thought of himself, Sasuke and Sakura as still being Team 7. The team had been a period in his life that had been characterized by close bonds and lots of hell-raising fun. The best years of his life so far, really. Sakura being pregnant brought home the fact that they weren't children anymore. He himself was in a relationship with Sasuke. Sakura, their teammate, friend, and reigning champion on every video game they played, was having a baby. It was like the end of his childhood was staring him in the face and this knowledge left him with a lump in his throat. Still, he had to believe it was harder on Sakura. She still had her face in her hands. He gently put his own hand on her shoulder now and squeezed reassuringly.

Sasuke spun away. "She's fucking my brother," he fumed in reference to Naruto's comment on Sakura's condition. "That's something we deserved to know the second it happened."

"Give her a break, man."

Sasuke felt his anger suddenly switch to a new target. He turned again with narrowed eyes. "Wait…Itachi is the one using you…the one you said just wants sex?" Of course he was. He realized the stupidity of his question immediately. His mind had been so blown away by the fact that Sakura was banging Itachi that he'd failed to realize that it was _Itachi. _His own brother. "Where the fuck does he get off screwing my friend?" he hissed.

"_Sasuke,_" Naruto said tightly. "Stop. Just stop, okay? This is family. Your family."

Sasuke looked down at him. "Exactly, and my _family _shouldn't be screwing my _friends_. That is just wrong on so many-"

"I meant the baby," Naruto said quietly. He still had a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "That's your niece or nephew Sakura's carrying. You're going to be an uncle."

Sasuke stood there, his mouth slightly open from having been interrupted. Family. An uncle. A _baby. _This finally penetrated his shock and sense of betrayal. Sakura, his own Sakura, was having a baby. An Uchiha baby. His hands dropped from where he'd been gesturing in outrage. He hesitated, walked uncertainly over to where Sakura sat, and knelt in front of her. He waited only a moment, then pulled her into his arms. Her tears, previously silent, were suddenly voiced in a sob as she clung to him. "I'm sorry!" she wailed. "I'm so sorry."

"Shh." He held one hand to the back of her head, while Naruto scooted closer and rubbed her back soothingly. "I'm the one that's sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that."

Sakura sniffed, at once hating this sudden need to be cosseted, and enjoying the protective feel of both boys comforting her. She hugged Sasuke tighter. "I don't even know how it happened. I mean, I know I was careful, and so was he."

Careful. With sex. Sakura was having_ sex _with his brother_. _He'd never considered his brother as even being capable of wanting someone sexually. That he did, and the someone was Sakura, made his stomach writhe in burning anger. And then the thought of his brother kissing and touching the girl in his arms was suddenly embarrassing. As if he'd witnessed Itachi doing these things."Does he know?" he ventured in reference to the baby.

"No." Sakura fished a used tissue out of her pocket and blew her nose wetly. "And I want it to stay that way."

Naruto met Sasuke's eyes over her head. "Um…why? He's the father, right? Don't you think he should know?"

But Sasuke understood. "If he hasn't said he cares about her, she doesn't want the baby to influence his feelings. She wants him to love her for her, not the baby." Sakura sobbed softly at hearing this, and he murmured to her, kissed her hair.

"But it's his kid," Naruto said stubbornly. "And once she gets fat with it, don't you think he'll notice and put two and two together?"

"Naruto-" Sasuke began.

"No. I don't get how either of you could be so mean as to keep a guy away from his own kid." Naruto was getting worked up. His voice was rising, and those brows of his were lowered fiercely. "How the fuck is that right? How does someone's personal feelings of insecurity take precedence over a _kid_? What if the baby wants to know who his dad is one day, huh? What then? I mean-"

Sasuke gently set Sakura aside in order to go to Naruto, who was now standing. "Naruto, listen-" He reached a hand towards him.

Naruto smacked the hand away angrily. "You have no right to do this, Sasuke. Nobody should be kept from their kid, and no kid should have to grow up without a father."

Sasuke studied the panting face, the angry eyes. _No kid should have to grow up without a father._ Right. Of course Naruto would be sensitive about that. "It won't," he said now. "Sakura will probably tell him eventually, but for now it's her decision to keep it to herself."

Naruto glanced at where Sakura was sniffling up at them. She nodded. "You swear you'll tell him?" Naruto pressed. Sakura nodded again. His face relaxed somewhat from its pinched expression of indignation. "When?"

Sakura dragged the blanket around herself again. "I don't know. Soon, I guess. I just…I need time to figure things out. Tsunade-sama already knows, I'm sure of it. But my parents don't know, and I'm an unwed person, with no place of my own, and…I don't even know if Itachi will be happy about the baby, or…" Her face crumpled again.

"Hey," Sasuke went to her, along with Naruto. "One thing at a time. Let's get through this mission first, then think about what comes next, okay?"

Always reasonable and logical, that was Sasuke. _Used to be you too, _A voice said in Sakura's mind. She took a steadying breath. "Okay." She scrubbed her red and leaking eyes with the heels of her hands. "God, look at me. I'm a mess. I hate this."

-oOo-

She lay down shortly afterward, her head pillowed on Naruto's chest. Sasuke fished his brother's hoody out of his pack, and just held it for a few minutes. He stared at the Uchiha fan stamped on the front pocket. His mouth was set in a grim line.

He loved his brother, truly he did. But Itachi going behind his back to fuck around with one of his best friends was just not cool. He couldn't explain it…it just felt like Itachi was horning in on what was his. Not that he'd ever had romantic feelings for Sakura or anything, but still. It just didn't feel right. And Sakura, man. That was somehow worse. Both of them, sneaking around. Itachi was older, though, and should know better than to knock-up some teen chic as if she was common trash.

That was it right there, Sasuke decided as he angrily yanked the hoody on. Itachi treating his friend with such disrespect. That was what had him pissed. His brother was his idol. Perfect, almost a god in his estimation. How could he do something so low? Jesus, he'd hurt Sakura. And hurting someone close to him was the same as hurting him, Sasuke thought furiously. He lay down on the other side of Sakura. Maybe such a thought was irrational, but Sakura was such a part of him and Naruto that if felt like Itachi had effectively shat on all three of them. And obviously Itachi didn't think his actions worth explaining to Sasuke, or that Sasuke was important enough to confide in. He buried his face in the back of Sakura's neck and squeezed his eyes shut against the burning in them. _Fuck you, Itachi. Fuck you._

* * *

They rose bright and early the next morning. Both boys watched helplessly as Sakura doubled over a bush and heaved out mouthfuls of yellowish crap until her stomach was empty. She swiped the back of one gloved hand across her mouth as she straightened matter-of-factly, and began packing her gear. She didn't mention the puking, so neither did they. Sasuke and Naruto were left on edge and nervous; the idea of pregnancy was one that was surrounded by a wealth of unknowns.

Sasuke asked if he could carry Sakura's pack, for which he was rewarded with a punch to his gut that nearly had _him _puking. "I'm pregnant, not an invalid," Sakura said tightly. She turned and marched away.

Naruto crept over to Sasuke once Sakura was at a safe distance. They both stared at her retreating back. Seemed her vulnerability of last night was over and done with. Sakura was back to her old self, if a bit prickly.

-oOo-

The mission took longer than expected. Sasuke was asked by Sakura to pen a request for an extension to the Hokage, while she was out gathering more research. Naruto and Sasuke had both originally accompanied her on these all-day outings, but the hospital archives were so stupefying and boring that they'd opted to leave it to her. She said they would be needed to help her take samples from any bodies that were exhumed. They did not relish this thought.

In the meantime, they wandered around the islands that comprised Water Country. "Wasn't Haku from around here?" Naruto asked one day. They trudged through the heavily falling snow, on their way to the one small market square of this particular island.

Sasuke was hunched in on himself, hands shoved into the pocket of Itachi's hoody. "Don't know or care." His teeth chattered. "Can we please get the fuck out of this snow?"

"Yeah, just a sec. I want to see those crystal figurines we heard about."

"Don't even know why it's snowing here when everywhere else it's summer," Sasuke muttered. "Come here, let me leech your heat."

Naruto allowed Sasuke to thread an arm through his and huddle against his left side. After a moment, he brought up the topic they invariably spoke of at length every day. "When do you think she'll tell everyone?"

The baby was always on Sasuke's mind. He didn't need to ask what Naruto meant or who they were talking about. "I don't know."

"Think her parents will kick her out?"

"Can't say. Maybe?"

"Think Itachi likes her at all?"

This was something Sasuke had given a lot of thought to in recent days. Since Itachi had come back they'd gotten close again, but he didn't kid himself that he would ever truly _get _Itachi. Not the way he got Naruto. He'd never be able to really know or understand just what his brother thought about, or what his life had been like or what, if anything, went on behind his perpetually blank expressions. Clearly _some_thing went on, but Sasuke was in the dark. "I don't know. I have to believe he _wants _her, but whether or not he likes her…no clue."

"Huh. Aren't liking and wanting the same thing?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Of course not. Wanting is physical. Animals _want _things. Liking is emotional."

"You think Itachi is an animal?" Naruto cackled.

Sasuke didn't see anything funny. An image of his brother, of how he always did things with neither enjoyment nor dislike, pleasure or annoyance, surfaced in his mind. "That's exactly what I think he is. An animal. A creature without feelings. He probably doesn't even think like we do."

Naruto had to stop walking, now leaning on Sasuke in turn as his knees unbuckled in his hysteria. He was some minutes bawling out his wild laugh before he finally regained some composure. "Dude, he's your brother! He loves you to death, how can you say he doesn't have feelings?"

Sasuke resigned himself to the loss of Naruto's body heat. "It's not normal love. You see how he is. I think he's crazy. Like, seriously insane."

"You're killing me!" Naruto gasped. He staggered away, his laugh coming out in great white plumes of vapor in the frozen air.

"I mean it. Something's wrong with him."

Naruto found a snow-covered log on their path and walked over to it. He sat on it without brushing the snow off. Sasuke shivered just seeing this, but walked over and sat next to him. He leaned gratefully against Naruto's warm side.

Laughing finally at an end, Naruto gazed thoughtfully at their footprints. "Nothing's wrong with your brother."

"Well something definitely isn't right."

"Sasuke…what's up with you? Really?" He turned and pinned Sasuke's wind-reddened face with a pointed stare.

It was no use pretending ignorance. Naruto rarely got perceptive, but he _was_ capable of it on occasion, and now was such a time. And when Naruto got perceptive it was best to give him his answers and move on as quickly as possible; Naruto's keen observations were sharp enough to cut and scar, if indulged too long.

"I'm…I don't think Sakura should go back to Itachi." Sasuke looked away from the probing blue stare. He knew Naruto was waiting, though, and finished in a rush. "He's too fucking strange and…and crazy. Sakura's normal. She's our friend. _Ours. _Look what he's done to her already, how insecure she is. Knocked up and weepy and…not herself. It's his crazy bullshit, I'm telling you. And I don't think… I don't think he should be around the baby. I think we should…support it with Sakura. Ourselves. Our baby. Mines, yours, and hers." He closed his mouth before he revealed more. He hadn't planned to say all that, but now that he had he was sure Naruto would explode in loud, indignant outrage. He was surprised, therefore, to hear Naruto speak in a calm, thoughtful voice of his own.

"Keep the baby? Do you think Sakura would do that? Raise the baby with us?"

Encouraged, Sasuke looked over at Naruto to find him staring at their footsteps once more. "I don't know. If her parents kicked her out and she was still afraid to tell Itachi, maybe. Think about it, Naruto. She's under the belief he doesn't care about her. With us, she knows we love her, and the baby can have two dads instead of one that will end up screwing his poor young mind up before he can walk or talk. We should all move into one place and live together. With our baby."

Naruto was on shaky ground, he knew. As shocked as he was by Sasuke's words, it was the mentality behind them that scared him. If it was true that Itachi wasn't normal, as Sasuke believed, then it must be said that there was a certain thread of insanity in Sasuke as well. Naruto never really thought about it. He knew Sasuke so well, understood him so completely, that he was able to overlook the dark reaches of his personality. Still, it wasn't so long ago that Sasuke had been a dissociative and extremely violent preteen hell bent on killing his brother. He'd been capable of that. Naruto had to believe that if provoked correctly, Sasuke would be capable of that again. The ability existed within him to hurt, seriously hurt, those close to him.

It was not behavior Naruto was capable of, not under any circumstances. Yet he understood, and so tried to understand why it was that Sasuke was suggesting, in effect, to take Itachi's kid and run off to have some kind of three-way marriage with Sakura.

Knowing Sasuke as he did, Naruto knew there were deep currents beneath his surface polish. Behind the image of prodigy, genius, friend and lover, lurked a man with black rages, blinding love, and an intense, consuming ability to feel. He assumed the same was true of Itachi. Still, focusing on Sasuke, Naruto also knew how possessive the younger Uchiha was of what was his. He had a disturbingly sensitive sense of honor too, which all combined to tell him that Sasuke possibly felt jealous and cheated. By both Sakura and Itachi. Naruto suspected that Sasuke's feelings for his brother were too strong, too complicated (not to mention abnormal), and no doubt compounded by not a little fear of the older man; he wouldn't risk approaching his brother in a confrontation. Sasuke's solution? Get back at Itachi for his perceived insult in a roundabout way. By taking what was his, the baby and Sakura, and proving that _he_ was in fact, the better man.

Or so he thought. It was hard to be sure. What he did know, was that now was not the time to say how much Sasuke's words hurt him. Naruto tread carefully. The wrong word might put other notions in Sasuke's head, maybe of leaving Naruto altogether to run off with Sakura. Already Sasuke thought of the baby as his. If Naruto even dared to bring up Itachi and what he would do once Sasuke's intentions became known, it could be seen as more betrayal. And Naruto honestly did not know what Sasuke would do if he thought his lover had betrayed him as well. He knew he had Sasuke's trust as no other person –not Sakura _or _Itachi- had. He wouldn't taint that trust by so much as a _hint _of betrayal. So he was careful when he said, "Maybe. Or maybe Sakura would punch our lights out."

"She'll be grateful for our support," Sasuke contradicted. "She's vulnerable right now. We should pitch it to her today, the sooner to leave and start taking care of her."

_I can't reason with him, _Naruto realized. _He's dead set on this 'new family' _idea. Still, it hurt. He managed a smile and pat Sasuke's arm where it was linked with his own. "We should get going."

As they stood to resume their trudge to the market, Naruto came to a decision. _I'm staying out of this. Itachi's probably the only one who can set him straight. God, I don't want to be around when Sasuke tells his brother –who will definitely find out about that kid- that he plans on raising it himself. _He could just imagine the fight that would ensue. He had an idea that Itachi was probably just as possessive, and capable of feeling just as intensely.

* * *

Back at their motel, Sakura was waiting for them. She spoke while devouring a 12-inch hoagie overflowing with lettuce, tomato and sandwich meat. Her voice was muffled, one cheek bulging as she chewed. "Where've you two been?"

Sasuke relaxed visibly upon entering the heated room. He flexed his hands in his fingerless gloves as they thawed. "Out." Then, perhaps remembering his plan to win her over, he tried out a wide smile and sidled up to where she sat pigging out. "How are _you _feeling? Is the baby-"

Sakura ignored him. "I've made progress. Seems quite a few people have had this mysterious illness over the past twenty years or so. All of them at on point had a mission to one particular island here. I'm going there tomorrow, and taking Naruto with me."

"I'm not okay with that," Sasuke frowned. "You shouldn't be traveling to some island known to have a mysteriously fatal illness in your condition, and _if _you go we should all go."

Sakura turned to him with a dangerously neutral look in her green eyes. "What do you mean, _you_'re not okay with that? Since when are you in charge of my actions, Uchiha Sasuke?"

"I just meant-"

"And _if _I go? You planning to stop me?"

"No, I just think-"

"And if by 'condition', you mean my pregnancy, I'll have you know that-"

"Guys," Naruto interrupted. Sakura's rising voice was cut off. Sasuke closed his mouth over his retaliatory comments. "This isn't like us, all this fighting." It wasn't the first argument since beginning this mission. Or the tenth.

Sakura took an angry bite from her soggy sandwich. "I've got immunity to this particular illness, thanks to our deceased patient in Konoha. And Naruto is immune to most illnesses, that's why he's going. End of story."

Sasuke pursed his lips, caught Naruto's tiny headshake, then decided not to retort. He got up and left the room. The slamming door made their ears ring.

-oOo-

Naruto waited only a moment. "Sakura, are you and Itachi currently…I don't know, separated or anything? Not speaking?"

Sakura polished off a carton of juice and dabbed her lips on a napkin. "No, why?"

"You two are on good terms?"

She blushed. "I guess so. Nothing's changed between us, if that's what you mean. We still…do it a lot. He just doesn't know about the baby. And I…sort of left without telling him I was going."

Naruto went and sat next to her on the bed. "Okay…well. Please don't take this as me bossing you, but I really think you should try and tell Itachi as soon as possible. Before anything…happens." The more informed Itachi was, the better he'd be able to set Sasuke straight.

Sakura, in the process of flopping on the bed and groaning in one of her post-gluttony bedgasms, hugged the pillow to her face and murmured sleepily. "Anything like what?"

"Nothing, really. I'm sure Sasuke will be a great uncle and all, but-"

"You too."

"Huh?"

Sakura rolled over and gave him a satisfied smile. "You're the baby's uncle, too. You'll be a fabulous uncle, better than Sasuke."

A feeling of warm, tickling disbelief spread through Naruto's chest. He stuttered. "I'm…going to be an uncle?" His eyes were very round.

"Silly." Sakura dragged him down beside her and snuggled against his chest. "Of course you are. You're closer to me than my own family. Naturally, you're my baby's uncle. Between you and me, I think it's a girl."

Naruto hugged her fiercely, burying his face in her hair. "Sakura…I don't know what to say." Certainly, he couldn't say how left out he'd secretly been feeling, no matter Sasuke's insane notions. He settled for holding her while she fell asleep.

* * *

Upon their return to Konoha, the Chuunin riding gate security informed Sasuke that his brother wanted to be notified the second he was back in the village. "You've been gone five weeks, so I can only imagine that he's frantic with worry by now," the Chuunin said as he wrote their names in the ledger. "I know the Hokage had to get sharp with him for pestering her on news of you and these other two here."

Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto exchanged glances.

The Chuunin looked up at them when he'd finished writing. "'Course, if you stand right where you are, I'm sure you'll run into him. He drops by the gate at around this time every day, asking if you guys have returned. Though, now that I think about it, I haven't seen him since yesterday morning… Well, whatever. I wasn't on duty yesterday. Was the mission especially dangerous?"

Naruto let Sakura field that question as he pulled Sasuke aside. "Dude. I think he's worried about-"

"Me," Sasuke finished with a roll of his eyes. "The guy gets overprotective sometimes."

Naruto blinked. Itachi hadn't shown any such behavior since coming back to the village, not that he'd been aware of. "You don't think he's worried about Sakura?"

"Please," Sasuke snorted. "You heard her, he doesn't care."

"And you believe that?"

"Look." And here Sasuke turned to face Naruto directly. "You see how much friendlier and approachable Sakura is now, right? She needs us to help her get over him and his treatment of her. I'm going to start looking for apartments today, but for now I think we should all move in to your old place. Is it still available?"

Naruto tried to think of a convincing argument as Sakura linked her arm through Sasuke's on their way to the Hokage's office. One that would penetrate Sasuke's dense skull. It was no use, though. As far as Sasuke was concerned, Sakura had broken up with his brother, and the baby belonged to him, Naruto, and Sakura. Naruto simply could not understand _what _had caused this wildly aberrant lack of sense on Sasuke's part. It was sick, and disturbing, and demonstrated that something serious was going on with his lover. He wished he had a word for it.

* * *

"Pathological delusions." Kakashi flipped a page in his worn book.

Naruto turned the term over in his mind. "You sure?"

"That's what it sounds like to me," his former sensei confirmed. "Of course, I have no way of knowing who this mysterious friend is, or who the girl in question may be, but it sounds as if this behavior of his is out of the ordinary?" That one eye peered disinterestedly over the open pages of the book.

"Very."

"This girl…she's aware of his feelings?"

"Doubtful."

"And this friend. He plans on going against his older brother?"

"I think so. If the older brother tried to stop him, that is. So far, my friend and his brother don't seem to know what's going on with each other."

Kakashi seemed thoughtful. "When did you get back from your mission?"

"An hour ago."

Aware that Naruto thought he was successfully hiding the identities of his former teammates, Kakashi continued to pretend ignorance. "Don't you think a confrontation might happen in your absence?"

"Nah. When we made our report to Granny, she told us she had to send Itachi away on a mission to get him out of her hair. She said he'd be gone a week at least."

Kakashi ignored the name slip. "I see. I think your plan to let the brothers work this out themselves is a sound one, Naruto. Brothers, especially…well, _these_ brothers sound like intense individuals. You don't want to get mixed up in that."

"I sure don't," Naruto sighed. He looked out Kakashi's living room window. "I just wish I knew why my friend suddenly decided to go crazy. He's usually so level-headed."

"Sounds to me like your friend is scared."

"Come again?"

Kakashi snapped his book shut to look up at where Naruto was perched on his windowsill. "If I knew a person that sounds like your friend…knew his personality, his mindset, his quirks, the way he processes things…I'd say he was scared. He's had this female friend you two share for most of his life, and his brother sounds like someone who's also occupied a certain niche for most of his life. If the older brother and the female friend are now seeing each other, your friend might feel as if he's losing them both. And it sounds like your friend has precious few _other _friends, and not a whole lot of other family, hence his ridiculously strong attachment to the female and his brother. I sense this female is the only woman in his life, and thus fills the role of mother, sister, and anything else he associates wit the fairer sex. As for his brother, well. As far as your friend knows, the only fixation his older brother has ever had was on him, your friend. Correct?"

"I…guess so." Naruto struggled to understand.

"Well if his older brother now cares about someone else, your friend may view it, as I said, as a loss of his older brother. And if he lost him once already, another loss may be intolerable. _Is _intolerable, as demonstrated by your friend's psychotic fixation on the female now. Does that answer your question?" Kakashi opened his book once more.

"You're saying that Sa- that my friend is afraid of losing the people close to him. The only people he has, really." Which was way more than betrayal, as he'd been thinking. Which in turn meant Sasuke was more dangerous than he'd thought.

"Precisely."

"Fuck. And he doesn't realize that we –our female friend and his brother, not to mention me- will never leave him?"

"Hm. He might not think you'll leave him, but he seems unsure of the other two. You're lucky you have his trust."

Naruto nodded dejectedly.

Kakashi studied him. Naruto was filling out quite a bit, almost completely grown to manhood. The hair by his ears was also lengthening in a manner reminiscent of The Fourth. His little team had really grown up. "So…she's pregnant, huh?"

Naruto turned his head at the quiet words. "Who?"

"Your friend."

"Oh. Yeah. She is. She says I get to be its uncle, too." Naruto grinned brightly.

Kakashi smiled faintly. "I'm happy for her…whoever she is." Then, since Naruto was Naruto, he felt he could risk asking, "How's Sakura?"

"Huh…uh, she's fine. Why?"

"Just asking. Is she happy with Itachi?"

"You _know_ about that?"

"The whole village knows. They haven't been secret about it."

"Oh. Well, I guess she is."

Kakashi nodded, before burying his face in his book.

* * *

Sakura took a deep breath from where she stood in the hall. Her parents were seated on the living room couch, watching television. Their aged heads, one white since birth, the other starting to show gray through the dark red, were bent together. She knew they were probably holding hands, and had their ankles linked. So in love, her parents, even after all these years.

She'd made the decision to tell them, but she'd been standing in the hall for the past thirty minutes, slowly twisting her fingers in anxiety. She wanted nothing more than to crawl into their laps and feel them comfort her and tell her everything would be all right. The insecurities of her early childhood had come sweeping back with her pregnancy. She'd been leaning heavily on her two stalwart boys, but just then, with the familiar smell of her apartment filling her nose, she wanted her mommy and daddy. She didn't want to be a mother herself, and be adult, and face the fact that her responsibilities had just taken a massive leap into the stratosphere. She wanted to be held and coddled and made much of. She wanted to indulge her insecurities, just once, before donning the heavy mantle of adulthood.

_Nice. Sasuke and Naruto are out of your sight for an hour and already you can't stand alone without them._

She ignored the thought. And she walked past the living room with a called, "Mom, Dad, I'm home," and entered her room. She went directly to her bed, hugged her pillow, and began to cry.

* * *

Tsunade caught Shizune's eye. Her aide nodded and quietly went to the office door. She locked it. Sakura, sitting in a chair and researching old files, glanced up. She saw the intent looks on her shisou and Shizune's faces, and felt sweat bead her brow. "Is-is something wrong?"

"You've been back for a few days now," Tsunade said as she came from behind her desk. She perched on the corner of it, arms folded, and stared down at her student. "I refuse to ignore the elephant in the room any longer."

Sakura's eyes went wide as her fingers clamped down on the files. "I-"

"You're pregnant, Sakura." Shizune's voice was gentle, but firm. "What do you intend to do about it?"

Sakura carefully set the files on the desk and stood up. "What do you mean?" Her heart was pounding fiercely, but she kept her composure.

Tsunade got to the point. "When I gave you the Water Country mission, you told me there was nothing you wanted to discuss with me, despite us both knowing of your condition, I thought you'd decided to abort. I expected the delay in Water Country was so you could have the procedure done. But you come back more pregnant than ever, and with an apparent wish to keep the child. Is that the case?"

Sakura briefly hung her head at having her circumstances aired out like this. "Yes."

"Then I'm sure you also know," Tsunade went on relentlessly, "how ill-advised it would be for you to continue as my assistant. We routinely come into contact with harmful diseases in our line of work, not to mention having to handle equally harmful substances. It is no place for a pregnant woman."

Sakura had known that. She nodded miserably.

Tsunade relaxed somewhat at getting no argument. She continued in a kinder tone. "Does Itachi know?"

"No, Shisou."

"Well, that's your business, though I will say that the prospect of re-building the clan should appeal to him. Aside from that, he has turned this village on its ear waiting for your return."

Sakura lifted her head sharply at this, but her mentor was already speaking again.

"You'll need prenatal care, of course. Will you be nursing the child after?"

"I-" Sakura cleared her throat, but the stinging in her eyes only intensified. "I don't know."

Tsunade watched the tears come, proud of the way her student ignored them, but sympathetic to her plight anyway. She went and put a hand on her shoulder, and squeezed reassuringly. "It's all right, Sakura. You're hardly the first person this has happened to, nor will you be the last. I'm not judging you. No one is. I just need to know how soon you'll be back at work. I'm going to recommend you take eighteen months off, okay?"

"Wh-wh-what am I supposed to d-do?"

The hitching breath and shaky lower lip did not alter Sakura's steady gaze, but Shizune came swiftly to Sakura anyway, and gently turned her so they were face to face. "You can take care of yourself, Sakura. And your baby. It's not the end of the world."

Sakura calmly extracted herself from the solicitous hands. She looked back and forth between both pairs of concerned eyes. "I'll get my things from my cubicle."

Shizune glanced at Tsunade for her permission, before following Sakura's angry retreat. She caught up to her in their shared tiny office. Ino looked up from her desk and was curtly told by Shizune to leave for a few moments. Sakura ignored them both as she began emptying the drawers on her side of the double desk, and putting the contents into a small box.

"Sakura, don't leave like this."

"I don't need a lecture, Shizune."

"You're angry."

"I'm _screwed._" She slammed the door shut to drop into her chair and lean her elbows on the desk. She put her face in her hands. "I can't tell my friends, or Itachi, and now I have no job to come to. Don't you think my parents will wonder why I'm home all day?"

Shizune carefully pulled Ino's chair around to Sakura's side of the wide desk, and sat in it. "Why does this have to be such a secret?"

Sakura wondered that herself. It didn't, really. But she was so ashamed. She felt…common. And slutty. And stupid. And she was unused to feeling any of those things. They were completely foreign to her self-image and to how she identified herself. "Because," she said evasively. "I'm still figuring things out." Abruptly, she stood and retrieved her purse from the back of her chair. "I need to get out of here. I'll send one of the boys for my things." If she had to tolerate another second of pity, she'd scream.

Shizune was left staring at the empty office.

* * *

The next day, Sasuke accompanied her to the hospital for her first appointment, while Naruto went to her cubicle to retrieve her things. Sasuke was all questions while they waited in an examining room for Tsunade herself to arrive.

"How often are these appointments to take place?"

Sakura sat on the examining table, in her street clothes. "Once a month." She watched Sasuke leafing through a pregnancy book he'd bought.

"Seems like you've missed a few. How far along are you?"

"Thirteen weeks or so, I'd estimate."

Sasuke flipped to the appropriate picture. "Ahh…he's fully formed! Have you been drinking lots of milk?"

Sakura burst into one of her frequent, unexplainable bouts of crying. "Sasuke, I'm so glad you and Naruto are here for me."

Sasuke swiftly capitalized on this display of weakness, as he made sure to do whenever she got weepy these days; he was at her side and pressing her head to his shoulder in a trice. "Sh. You know I'll always be here for you, no matter what. You can always count on me and Naruto."

"I know," Sakura sniffed.

Sasuke decided to gamble. "I've been thinking. About this whole situation. I know you haven't told your parents, but…you don't have to, you know. I was thinking of me, you, and Naruto getting our own place. We'll help you raise the baby…if you want."

Sakura lifted her head in shock, but just then Tsunade walked in.

* * *

Itachi sped past gate security, ignoring the shout for him to sign in. He was at the Hokage building and stating his name to the Chuunin outside Tsunade's door only moments later. He scarcely waited for the door to be pulled open all the way before inserting himself through the narrow space, and striding to the curved desk. He bowed, while holding out the scroll he carried to Tsunade.

"Mission was successful. No undue difficulty in executing it and obtaining the documents," he reported with admirable calm.

Tsunade noticed that the hand holding the scroll was steady. "Good. It seems this trial mission to see if you're fully back on your feet went well; I can now assign you to more difficult missions."

Itachi straightened and met her unblinking stare. "May I ask why? I've only just returned to the village."

"Yes, but it seems you're life here has you restless. You're at my office almost daily. I can only conclude that you're bored. I think lengthy missions of sufficient difficulty would be just the thing for you. I have several lined up and waiting. The shortest one would take six months, minimum." Her golden eyes glinted, but not with amusement.

An understanding passed between them.

"You won't hear from me again unless it's council business or you send for me," Itachi murmured with a slight bow.

Tsunade dipped her own head in acknowledgement, but halted him from leaving just yet. "Itachi."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

She chose her words carefully. "I know it's difficult finding a new path to walk after having walked the same one for most of your life, but…you should try to let go of the past. There are quite a few bright things in your present, things that could lead to a rewarding future."

He waited for more. The Hokage gave a close-lipped smile, signaling that he could leave. Not quite understanding, Itachi bowed again then left.

-oOo-

On his way home, he automatically checked the hospital for Sakura. She wasn't there. Moreover, he was told that she no longer worked there. He felt a sharp spike of fear stab through his head as he left the building. He thought it would be safe to say that this development and the Hokage's words were related; something was going on with Sakura. He detoured to her apartment.

He was told by her parents a thing so stunning that his facial features widened in an abnormal expression of surprise. He took the slip of paper handed to him in nerveless fingers, and thanked them for their time.

* * *

"Sakura, let me get that." Naruto dropped the box he'd been carrying to the kitchen to go relieve her of the one she'd tried to lift. "Just sit back and chill. Sasuke and I can handle this. Granny said your strength might come and go while your chakra feeds the baby's."

"Boys know nothing about decorating or arranging a home satisfactorily," she laughed. But she let him take the box.

They'd moved in yesterday. They would have to pool their money for rent, but it was a nice flat above a bakery, two bedrooms, spacious, and scented with the smell of fresh-baked goods. There were windows on all sides of the house, so it was airy. The sheer curtains Sasuke had put up fluttered inward on the evening breeze. He brought her a glass of caffeine-free iced tea now, as she sat on their second-hand couch.

"I'm not too clueless. I found this place, didn't I?" Sasuke asked her around a grin.

She took the glass. "You're wonderful. Both of you are. I just can't believe we're doing this."

Naruto shrugged. "Eighteen. Time I was on my own."

"That's what I told my parents. They cried." Sakura looked down into her tea.

Sasuke hovered at her side, ready to leap into another supportive hug should the waterworks start. Seeing this, Naruto grit his teeth. Sasuke had been impossible, insisting that Sakura sleep in their room with them last night, so they'd be able to 'get her anything if she woke up in the night.'

Personally, he'd wanted to break in the new place by fucking, but Sasuke had been unshakable. Sakura had curled up between them happily enough, too exhausted to examine this unorthodox arrangement. He looked at Sasuke taking Sakura's empty glass now, and was grateful for the knock on their door. He was close to punching Sasuke's head in these days.

-oOo-

Itachi took in the scene: Naruto's surprised face, and some words about thinking it was Kiba and the gang. Sasuke in the background, pretending to be crushed by some weak blows being dealt by Sakura.

Sakura. Sakura slapping furiously at Sasuke's arms and head, smiling and frowning wrathfully at the same time. Laughing.

Her hair was a little longer. She didn't see him.

"Itachi?"

Naruto. His voice was low and as serious as his eyes. Itachi studied the expression in those eyes, and saw confirmation of his suspicions. Something was definitely going on, and it had to do with Sakura.

Sasuke turned at hearing Naruto say his brother's name, and found Itachi walking into the living room.

Sakura's smile died away quickly. She stood with her hands pressed to her stomach, and he face turning white.

Itachi felt something in him shift dangerously; Sakura had not smiled at seeing him, or greeted him. She actually backed away to sit gingerly on the couch behind her. He dismissed her for the moment, to take in the room, the boxes, the names of all three on the boxes, and the stiff, silent demeanor of both boys. He lifted the hand holding the slip of paper that had been given to him, and saw Sasuke and Naruto flinch, as if they'd been expecting an attack. "I got the address from Sakura's father."

Naruto and Sasuke relaxed slightly.

"It seems we need to talk, Sasuke." Itachi said evenly. "It can happen here or at our place."

Sasuke walked past Naruto and is brother, heading outside. "I'm coming too," Naruto spoke up. Itachi only turned and followed both boys out. Before he shut the door, he looked over his shoulder at where Sakura sat. She said nothing, only looked at him. He shut the door hard.

* * *

As quickly as they leaped, Itachi still beat both boys to the apartment they'd so recently shared. He was standing in the main room, arms folded, when they entered. "Start talking," he hissed.

Naruto went first. "I think this is a matter for you two to discuss. I'm just here to support Sasuke and…" _make sure he doesn't get killed. _"And like that." He moved to the far side of the room.

Sasuke struggled for nonchalance. "What do you want to know?"

"To begin, you can tell me what is wrong with Sakura."

Surprised, Sasuke frowned. "I thought you wanted to discuss me moving out?"

"As it happens, I was going to suggest you find your own place soon, so I'm not bothered by your decision. It shows you're growing up. I want to know why Sakura is apparently moving in with you, and why she's no longer employed at the hospital. Is she ill?"

Sasuke felt the first stirrings of hate for his brother return. Previously, he'd been angry. Hurt. Jealous. Maybe even afraid at his brother starting a family with his best friend, but to have Itachi state so clearly how little Sasuke had come to mean cemented his negative feelings. Authenticated them. Made them less unfounded and more justified. Thus, he felt justified in saying the truth, led by the burning hurt in his gut. "Sakura's fine. She's with me now. You've had your fun with her, but I'm not letting you hurt her anymore, Itachi. Stay away from her."

Naruto discreetly measured the distance between himself and Itachi, himself and the closest pieces of furniture, and began mapping out a defensive strategy.

Itachi stared at his brother. "With you? How so?"

"Just what it sounds like," Sasuke said recklessly. "She with me and Naruto both. We feed her, and take care for her, and she sleeps in our bed."

Naruto twitched, but let Itachi backhand Sasuke across the room. Dude actually landed right at his feet. He looked down to find Sasuke's eyes red, and blood leaking from one corner of his mouth. Itachi came and yanked his brother up by the collar, punched him again, yanked him up, and punched him a third time. He was pulled up yet again, but Sasuke spat blood into his face. "You'd make a horrible father," he rasped. "Is this how you treated Sakura?"

Itachi let him fall back to the floor, staring down at him. "I haven't hurt her. I'd never hurt her. I love her."

Naruto wilted in relief, but remained silent. Sasuke, however, snorted as he got painfully to his feet. "Bullshit. She told me how you only want her for sex, how you never tell her how you feel. You're a cold bastard, Itachi. I won't let you treat my friend like that."

"It's no different from how she treats me," Itachi replied. "Did she tell you she's only with me because she finds me attractive? I keep waiting, keep hoping she will love me as I love her. I hold myself back from abducting her, from moving into her parents' home, from becoming a medic myself…I believe the blame for her reticence can be laid at Kakashi's door, and how he treated her." He turned and stared at the wall, seeing nothing. An image of Sakura, and of how she'd looked when he'd seen her a little while ago, rose in his mind. This, coupled with his brother's recent words, had his frown intensifying.

The silence was long. Very long. Itachi stared at the wall, and Sasuke stared at his brother's back. Bored, Naruto pulled a cookie out of his pocket, brushed it off, and began eating it. Seemed that was all the ass-kicking Sasuke was going to receive. Bit of a letdown, really.

"I never thought I'd see the day," Sasuke finally hissed in a shaking voice, "Where my brother would be so full of shit."

Itachi turned at once, brought out of his thoughts. "Excuse me?"

"I don't know whether to pity you or be ashamed of your stupidity."

Itachi's eyes went red.

Sasuke hesitated. Hearing his brother say he loved Sakura was a wake-up call. He couldn't say that he didn't believe Sakura would be better off with him instead of Itachi, because he did, but doubt entered his mind. Itachi's sincerity was palpable. And now that he was listening, he'd been able to hear all sorts of gossip around the village about what an attractive couple they made. He'd overheard whispers of how affectionate they seemed with each other, and how obvious Itachi's devotion was. Admittedly, these gleanings had spurned his own pursuit of Sakura, but he had to at least face the truth, even if he didn't want to accept it; if Sakura could be so wrong about Itachi's feelings, might not he himself be wrong in thinking she would agree to give up his brother? He hadn't broached that topic with her yet, but he now thought the idea was ludicrous. Sakura loved his brother, he'd heard that from her own mouth. And now, to hear that her love was returned, he'd be a shitty friend if he didn't at least try to make her happy by making it possible for her to have what she wanted.

But he'd really wanted that baby.

He sighed. Sakura would kill him, plain and simple, if he told of her feelings to Itachi or mentioned the baby. He'd already slipped up about the latter, but Itachi hadn't reacted to the word father, so maybe he was okay there. Still…"Itachi. Listen…girls like Sakura don't go around fucking people just because they're attractive."

"Have you had sex with her, Sasuke?"

Sasuke considered lying. Briefly. "No."

"You said she was in your bed."

"_Sleeping._ Look, I only said that to piss you off. And to let you know that I knew about the two of you."

"It wasn't a secret."

"You didn't tell me about it."

"I didn't think you'd care, one way or the other."

"And that's your problem," Sasuke shot back. "She's my best friend, has saved my life on many occasions, has fought by my side, bled with me, healed me…how could you think I wouldn't care?"

"Because you have no romantic interest in her," Itachi answered with a frown.

"You _fucking ass,_" Sasuke nearly screamed. "That's not why I care! I care because I love her too, like a sister, and seeing her hurt kills me! Knowing it's you that hurt her kills me twice as bad, and the fact that neither of you could be bothered to tell me this shit is too much!"

Itachi waited until his brother's breathing had calmed down. "I'm inexperienced with these things. I thought…"

Sasuke took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Look. I won't pretend to know what your life was like while you were away, or how it was when you had to turn on your own clan, but things aren't like that anymore, man. War isn't a recent thing in people's minds, and enemies don't lurk around every corner. At some point you just have to…live. Let go and learn to live, stop treating everyone like they might need to be killed. You can't keep holding people at a distance. You have to let them in sometimes, bro."

Almost exactly what the Hokage had told him, if in fewer words. Itachi turned his head aside to hide the sudden, alarming moisture in his eyes. "I can't, Sasuke. I _can't_."

Sasuke felt answering tears well up in his eyes, feeling his brother's pain and confusion. He nodded, swallowed. "I know. I know, man, I know it's hard." A rustling sound brought his attention to Naruto. The fool was sitting on his heels, munching a stale handful of cookies that Sasuke had seen him put in his pocket three days ago. At seeing this gross consumption, and the bent blond head, the rest of Sasuke's own confusion over Sakura and his brother left him in a tide of bittersweet regret. It was slowly replaced with his feelings for Naruto, who continued to be oblivious to his stare. "Look at him," Sasuke whispered.

Itachi glanced at Naruto.

"He's doesn't look like much, does he? Aside from what's sealed in him, to look at him you'd think he was just an ordinary person. Unremarkable, unimpressive in every way. Below average intelligence, stupid eating habits, cocksure attitude half the time…no, nothing special.

"But he's everything. He's got my heart in one pocket, and my soul in the other. _Everything, _Itachi. He is everything in life. Sky, moon, sun, stars, air, food and drink, he's it. He's just a guy, a goofy guy. Strong, but capable of dying at any moment, same as the rest of us. It scares me shitless to think someone so ordinary and so frail could hold so much of me inside him, but he does. He means life itself to me, Itachi. _And I tell him._"

Naruto looked up at last, cookie half out of his mouth, and caught the stares. He grinned around the cookie and gave a little wave, eyes slit in good cheer.

Sasuke's heart skipped a beat, but he turned back to Itachi. "You better settle things with Sakura, bro, or as God is my witness I'll kill you."

Itachi disregarded the threat. He did, however, pause by his brother's side as he passed him on his way out the door. "Thank you. Don't break any furniture this time."

* * *

Naruto walked up to him as the door shut. "What was that about furniture?"

Sasuke was in the process of running his eyes up and down the broad chest beneath Naruto's tee. "Nothing. He knows me too well, is all."

"Oh. Well! That went better than I expected! I just want you to know, though, that if you really plan on taking your brother on, and I hope you're not… I got your back."

Sasuke found himself staring at the honest blue eyes. He shook his head. "You are the most beautiful person I've ever known, you know that?"

Naruto ducked his head in embarrassment. "I'm not. Not beautiful. That's an insult." He started to turn away. Sasuke caught his wrist.

"I'm not talking about gorgeous hair, pouty lips, and fluttering eyelashes…though your hair is pretty shiny. I'm talking about _you, _dobe. Who you are. Inside. You're beautiful."

"Sasuke," Naruto stammered. His face was on fire. "I tried to pretend I didn't hear those things you said to your brother, but he's gone now. You don't have to get all mushy and-"

"I think I do," Sasuke lowered his voice. "At least once in awhile." He deliberately walked until his chest was touching Naruto's. The heat of their bodies made them both gasp softly. "Do you really mind?" He kept walking until Naruto was pressed to the wall in the short hall between kitchen and living room.

Naruto shook his head slowly. Sasuke was a mere two inches taller, but this close he felt like he was looking up at a great distance. "N-no."

"Hn. Then let me take the time to say, here and now, just how much I need you." He kissed the full lips dotted with cookie crumbs. "How much I love you." He kissed his nose. "How I'd die without you." He spent a few seconds kissing Naruto's eyes.

"You wouldn't," Naruto laughed uneasily. Sasuke's intimate side _always _unnerved him.

Sasuke pulled back and leaned his hips against Naruto's, letting him feel how hard he was. "Oh, yes I would."

Naruto was humbled. "You know I feel the same way, right?"

"I know."

"Good. I don't…need to say it too much, do I?"

"Not too much."

"And…the thing with Sakura. That's over?"

Sasuke had the grace to blush. "Yeah."

"Good."

He dropped his forehead to Naruto's. "I love my brother, but you're my family. You're my home, Naruto."

They stood that way for a while, in the darkened apartment, with their foreheads against each other. Sasuke ran his fingers lightly over Naruto's bare biceps, tracing the faint greenish veins there. Naruto brushed one knuckle down the shallow groove between Sasuke's chest muscles, just visible through his own T-shirt. After some moments, their lips found each other.

-oOo-

Their brief moment of mutual silence and acknowledgement was all the foreplay they needed. Sasuke wrapped both arms around Naruto and lifted him as he kissed him. He walked blindly to his now-empty room, and sank with him to the floor.

Naruto tried to undress Sasuke, but had his hands knocked roughly away. The Uchiha straddled his hips as he pulled his shirt off and undid his pants. Again Naruto went to help, and was again shoved roughly back. He lay quietly, knowing what was coming.

Whatever it was that Sasuke had been dealing with –his feelings over Sakura and Itachi- bled out of him in the form of aggression. Naruto lifted his hips as his jeans were whisked off, and braced himself.

The penetration stung, but he only bit his lip and relaxed his body. Once Sasuke was in, he took a moment to let him adjust. He began thrusting, and Naruto realized that they hadn't had sex in almost a week. He suddenly missed Sasuke filling him the way he used to and reached up to yank him down hard. "Do it to me."

Naruto's iron grip spurned Sasuke as much as the command did. He tried to lean up on his hands to gain leverage, but Naruto's arm around his neck wouldn't release him. "Let me up."

"No. Fuck me like this. Kiss me," he hissed. "I missed you bad, asshole."

Sasuke got a forearm up and supported his weight that way. He was able to jerk harder into the sweating body beneath him. Naruto pulled him in for a deep kiss, making him pump his hips even harder as his release was suddenly hurtling towards him. He held it back, tangling his hand in Naruto's hair as he did so.

Those strong legs locked around his waist, and suddenly he was on his back, with Naruto riding him fiercely, still kissing him.

He lunged, and their positions were reversed again.

The kiss broke, and Naruto tried to pull him back. He resisted, catching the swinging fists as Naruto tried to hit him, and pinning them down by his head. Naruto cursed at him, tried to buck him off, but he held firmly inside him, and thrust, thrust, thrust, as hard as he could. "I'm sorry," he gasped.

"I'm the only one you need," Naruto whispered furiously.

"I know. I'm _sorry_."

Naruto unsheathed two claws on his right hand and used them to cut deeply into the bunched muscles of Sasuke's chest, right over his heart.

"FUCK!" Sasuke bellowed. He stopped thrusting. Naruto flattened his palm over the dripping wound and unleashed a controlled burst of Kyuubi chakra that had Sasuke yelling in fright and pain. "Jesus, Naruto!" They both looked at the mark left behind.

The Uzumaki swirl, carved perfectly into Sasuke's skin, was a darker mark beneath the red hand print. Both marks were permanent. The swirl was neatly cauterized.

"So you never again forget where you belong or who you belong with," Naruto whispered.

Sasuke studied those blue eyes, the way there was nothing goofy, cheerful, or good-natured about them now. Swallowing, he nodded in understanding. He let himself be pulled down again. After a moment, the feel of danger passed, and Naruto was just Naruto again, just his lovable, cuddly blond oaf. Their lovemaking resumed, then quickened, then reached its peak in a fiery climax that left them both breathless and wanting more.

"I'll never forget," Sasuke whispered before he kissed Naruto in preparation for round two. "Never again."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Another fic complete. That brings my total down to...*checks table of listed upcoming works* 41. Busy summer for me, writing wise!

Right, so, once these two here finally got over their drama and over-thinking, things turned out to be pretty simple, as most things in life tend to be. It's short, but just how I want it. I'm happy. ^^

Beta: None.

* * *

Chapter 4

So quiet.

Shadows grew and spread through the room, covering the boxes strewn everywhere. The breeze continued to whisper in past the sheer curtains. Though Itachi had shut the door hard, unless it was locked, it didn't stay closed. Naruto, who'd turned out to be surprisingly handy, had said that the spring latch was broken; the latch bolt didn't fully extend once the door was shut, necessitating the door to be actually locked for it to remain shut. He'd said he would fix it that night. As a result, there was a three-inch crack between the door and the jamb, a narrow oblong of light that allowed her to look out past the metal stairs leading up to the apartment and over the rooftops of the immediate surrounding neighborhood.

Itachi had looked at her as if she was nothing. He'd never looked at her like that before. She'd learned to interpret his expressions. He might appear indifferent to the world at large, but she knew the subtle shadings to his demeanor, the minute alterations in his expression that meant happiness, shock, or lust. There had been nothing subtle or indifferent about him just now. He'd seen her, _sneered_ at her, and left.

Well, could she blame him? No, she couldn't. She was doing it again, being a stupid child incapable of adult behavior. She'd run when she'd first had sex with him, then run again when she could no longer deny she was pregnant. Both times were absolutely unforgivable insults to him, and out of character for her. She'd cowered behind the safe, comfortable, non-threatening protection of Naruto and Sasuke, knowing full well that they'd accept her blubbering insecurity and _let _her hide. She was the mature one of their trio. Whenever the boys needed some sense knocked into them she was more than happy to do the honors. She never let them get away with shit, but they were too soft-hearted and too scared of her temper to do the same. And let's face it, she rarely, if ever, needed to be set straight.

_There's no possible way I can raise a kid when I can't even behave responsibly,_ she admonished herself. Another one of her detestable crying episodes was perilously close to swamping her, and this time there was no friendly, supportive shoulder to lean on.

Abruptly, she pitied her child. She pitied it for having to be born to such a pathetic mother, to someone who couldn't admit how she felt to its father, or even tell its grandparents of its existence. She was cheating her baby of its rights on every side and it hadn't even been born yet. What kind of mother could she hope to be? A rush of love and protectiveness at last broke through her resolve not to cry yet again, so that she wrapped her arms around her middle, doubled over, and rocked in misery.

* * *

Itachi saw that the door was ajar, and took a moment to sense if Sakura was still inside or not. She was. He switched to scanning for threats as he landed lightly on the small metal landing at the top of the stairs that led up the side of the building. He stood at the crack in the door and peered inside.

She felt him. He saw her lift her head from her knees at sensing his presence. He was striding inside at once at seeing her tear-streaked face. Whatever she might or might not feel for him, whatever her reason for pushing him away this time, he could not bear to see such pain in her. He was at her side instantly, lowering himself to the couch. "Tell me," was all he said.

It seemed she couldn't. She only covered her face with her hands. He saw the effort on her part to stop crying, saw how she ended up crying harder, and hesitantly reached out a hand to her trembling back; he felt as if he were being flayed alive, having to witness her grief.

She came into his arms eagerly, clung to him desperately, and the feel of her at long last eased some of the tension in his chest. He stroked her hair awkwardly, held her tightly, and just offered what silent comfort he could. They remained that way on the couch for some time.

* * *

He was so solid. And unlike Sasuke, he had a limit to how much of her crap he would put up with. She couldn't just bank on her girlish charm with him, and expect he'd let her get away with the same things the boys let her get away with. The way Itachi had looked at her, she'd been sure he'd never want to speak to her again. After all, she'd taken off with no word, and planned to shack up with his brother, also without warning. But he'd come back. And here, in his arms, Sakura felt keenly that this was her last chance to not screw things up. Drying her eyes on her shirt, she lifted her head off his chest and took a deep, shaky breath. When she met his eyes, he was ready, looking at her expectantly.

"Itachi? I need to tell you something."

He adjusted himself, sat up straighter on the couch and turned toward her. "I, too, have something I'd like to say."

"May I go first?"

He appeared to think, then deferred to her with a small bow.

_My baby deserves a strong mother. I _am _a strong woman, strong enough to take his rejection and still keep my head up. _She made a silent vow to her child then and there to be the best parent she could. To that end, she cleared her throat. "This thing between us?"

Itachi's face didn't change, but she knew his interest had just sharpened. She could tell. "Yes," he said.

"I, um." She paused to take another steadying breath. "I feel I have to tell you that it's serious. For me, anyway."

He didn't look away from her. "I see. How serious?"

"Um, very? I…" Her lower lip trembled a bit, before firming as she squared her shoulders. "I'm seriously…seriously in…love with you." His eyes widened, she saw, and she said it again before she could lose her nerve. "Seriously. It's…it's not just attraction on my part, never really was. I was scared you didn't feel the same way, so I lied…but I'm so in love with you that I…I can't take it. I mean, you're all I think about, day and night and I-" She had to stop. She hadn't wanted it to sound like a melodramatic teenage confession, and that's exactly how it had come out sounding. She'd dropped her eyes to her hands, but now she peeked up when he shifted on the couch again. He was scooting closer to her.

Itachi felt as he had when Sasuke had come to rescue Naruto, and possibly him, from Akatsuki. At seeing he hadn't lost his brother's love after all, he'd been nearly crazed with power and adrenaline. Something similar took place in him now, but he sternly held himself in check. He listened to her confession, felt his heart shatter in his breast at learning his feelings were returned, returned _ardently_, and blinked a few times to keep himself composed. She stopped speaking, staring down at where she picked her nails nervously.

_I can't do as you ask, Sasuke, and completely change my ways, but I can and will claim what's mine now. _She looked up as he moved closer to her. He cleared his throat lightly. "I feel I must also confess…"

She seemed in shock. At hearing how he'd watched her for so long, yearned for her, waited for her…shock had her sitting perfectly still through his narration. But then she started crying again, and he was at a loss as to why or what he could say.

"You loved me all that time and I completely _shat _all over you after we were together that first time! I made you think I didn't care, when I would have killed just to be near you! Oh God, I'm _horrible!_" She screamed this last violently.

He had to grab her and squeeze her forcefully to him, so overcome was he with vindication. She calmed somewhat in his arms, but he could feel her shaking. She loved him. He could ask for nothing else. She loved him. He pressed his lips to her hair and kept them there as he swallowed repeatedly. He was sure he was hurting her with his hard embrace, but she didn't complain. Only sniffled in his arms, as her shaking subsided gradually.

-oOo-

Her self-disgust passed quickly. It was hard to feel anything but euphoria and a weightless sense of peace at learning that he loved her at last. Loved _her. _Was as obsessed with her as she was with him, needed and wanted her just as she needed and wanted him. It was a dream, a fantasy come true. Uchiha Itachi loved her and she was having his baby.

"_What?_"

Sakura snapped her head up and found Itachi looking down at her with stone cold disbelief. Replaying her thoughts in her mind, she realized that she'd spoken out loud. She briefly considered amending the statement, but decided enough was enough. She nodded. "It's true. I…I'm pregnant. It's yours." At seeing his continued blank stare, she bit her lip uncertainly. "Are you angry? I know we didn't plan it, and-"

"Marry me."

"-What?" She sat up from the reclining position they'd been in to gaze down at him.

He sat up as well. The image he'd had of her on his way over here suddenly connected with what Sasuke had said. The thing that had been plaguing his thoughts finally clicked together: Sakura had placed her hands over her stomach when she'd seen him, and Sasuke had said he'd be a terrible father. On some level he'd made the connection that she was pregnant, it just hadn't registered with his conscious mind. Now, with the knowledge stated and out in the open, he felt his skin grow clammy. A child. _His _child. The memory of what he'd done to his clan surfaced, never far from his thoughts. _Not just my child. My redemption. Her love and mine, joined forever. _He had no doubt it was his. "I said marry me."

"Itachi, I-"

"Do you love me?"

"Yes, you know I do-"

A sense of emergency, compounded by her sudden and inexplicable reticence, had him speaking more sharply than he intended to. "Do you have any doubt whatsoever that I love you in return? That I would kill before letting harm come to you, and would die to protect you?"

That seemed to get her attention. She stopped her squirming to gaze at him steadily. "No," she whispered.

"Do you doubt my ability to provide for you and our child? My willingness to give it everything this world has to offer?"

"No."

"Do you doubt me in anyway at all?"

Her voice was firm. "No. Not anymore."

"Then you doubt yourself," he surmised quickly. He moved closer to her and took her cold hands in his. "Listen to me well, Haruno Sakura. I waited as long as I did in order to make sure that you were the one. I know you well, despite what you think. You are the most courageous, selfless, compassionate, and strongest woman I have ever come across. I fell in love with you long before I'd chosen you, but there is no doubt in my mind that were every woman in creation paraded before me, none would compare to you. None would equal you. None could ever hope to come _close. _You _must _have me for your husband, Sakura. If you don't, my love for you will force me to shame myself by pining away for your smile, and taking up residence in your home. I'm afraid you won't get rid of me. You may as well accept it."

He _would_ have her crying again, wouldn't he? "And our baby?" she hiccuped.

Itachi dropped his eyes to her stomach, still predominantly flat, and placed a palm on it gently. "Will lack for nothing. Neither of you will, I can promise you that."

She couldn't stop the glad grin that spread across her face. "No one's ever said those kinds of things to me before."

"It's the truth. Will you have me?"

She nodded. Then she screeched a wild laugh and threw herself at him, knocking him backwards. She rained kisses all over his blustering face, before latching on to his mouth. Almost at once a terrible need to consume each other ignited their bodies to a feverish heat. It had been well over a month since they'd touched, but Sakura pulled back. "We have to tell my parents," she gasped giddily.

* * *

They were told scarcely twenty minutes later. Everything. The baby, their love, and Itachi's wish for a marriage to happen immediately. Sakura's mother surprised her and reduced her to tears again when she enfolded her daughter in a warm hug. "I was wondering when you'd tell me about the baby. I was so torn, watching you suffer so many uncertainties in silence, but I knew I had to let you come to me in your own time."

"Oh, Mama!"

Itachi watched the women hugging fiercely, both of them now crying. Sakura's father came up to him and he faced the white-haired man with his back straight. He then gave the lowest bow possible to his future father-in-law, one of the utmost respect and deference.

Sakura's father smiled. "It's all right, son. You had my approval from the moment she brought you home." He pulled the younger man aside a bit to whisper, "My girl's a headstrong miss. Despite her recent behavior, she's very independent- natured, and accustomed to being useful. I trust you don't expect her to be like her mother and occupy a traditional role within the home?"

Itachi bowed again. "On the contrary, I need a strong woman by my side. I chose her with full knowledge of who and what she is. I will cherish her individuality, you have my word."

Sakura's father squeezed Itachi's shoulder. "Well, good then. That's very good. I couldn't ask for a better man for a son."

Itachi blushed. Sakura saw this and teased him most unmercifully about it in the coming years.

-oOo-

That night, however, Tsunade was accosted outside her office as she was about to leave by one wildly excited Sakura, her beaming parents, a quietly forceful Itachi, and a disgruntled but happy Sasuke and Naruto. Itachi had gone to his apartment and interrupted his brother's steamy relations with Naruto in order to have them present for the impromptu wedding.

There was some flurry of activity as Shizune and Sakura's mother hastily tried to make Sakura more presentable, while Sasuke and Naruto hunted up a suitable kimono for Itachi to wear. They raided the Lost and Found on the first floor of the building and came up with one for Sakura too. The ceremony was over with rather quickly, but none present complained. Documents were signed, their names entered in the great ledger housing all unions, and that was that.

Sasuke had a handful of rice that he threw directly in his brother's face. A mild argument ensued, wherein Sasuke was told he was unwelcome in Itachi's house. Naruto said he and Sasuke could live in the new apartment, while Sakura could live with Itachi. Somehow Itachi caught sight of the brand on his brother's chest, and took the opportunity to make a few snide remarks about being Naruto's kept bitch, or something to that effect, which necessitated Sasuke being restrained by Naruto, Shizune and the Hokage herself. Itachi sauntered off with Sakura on his arm, quite smug in his victory at having gotten the last word. Sasuke's screamed insults were duly ignored.

* * *

Not the most auspicious wedding, for which Itachi apologized to Sakura later. She seemed not to mind. "It was still the best day of my life," she laughed. "Did you see your brother's face?"

"He deserved my comments." Itachi looked around. "Are you sure this is where you want our first night as husband and wife to be? I have enough money for a honeymoon. I'm well off, thanks to Akatsuki. I can afford an extended holiday somewhere. Perhaps someplace-"

"No." Sakura looked around too. "Here's perfect. We can take a trip later maybe, but tonight I want us to be right here."

"All right."

She smiled up at him as he lowered her to the blanket. It was unlikely that they'd be discovered here on top of the Hokage monument, and it seemed to make her so happy. He shed his clothes quickly and joined her a moment later.

Nude, the changes to her body were evident. Her breasts were larger. There was a slight thickening in her waist now. And when he slid a hand between her supple thighs, he found her flesh full and moist already…but then, that could be from her own desire for him. He let her reel him in by his ponytail for a heated kiss.

She was pliant in his arms, soft and welcoming and eager. And when he entered her body long minutes later, they knew they were both home, both where they belonged. His thrusts drove away her self-doubts one by one, until she was left with nothing but the shining surety that she was finally on the right path. Her surrender and acceptance of him melted away some of his reluctance, enough so that he was able to see the brilliant future she offered him. He placed a hand on the gentle mound of her belly at the moment of their joint climax, and it was a start. A beginning. The first steps on a new path for him, the old one finally left behind.


End file.
